Daqin Engineering Corps

Iron has a coefficient of thermal expansion of 12.2, while copper has a coefficient of thermal expansion of 17.5.

Therefore, this special structure of inner iron and outer copper, although the thermal expansion of the gun barrel cannot be adapted to the "single-wall self-tightening", it can reduce the risk of explosion in a series.

Shen Bing handed over this matter to Wang Ben for supervision.

Wang Ben was born in the Legalist family, he was cruel and merciless, and he was very rigorous in his work, so Shen Bing could rest assured.

It's just that Wang Ben has some complaints about the producer of artillery:

"General, we are struggling to figure out how to march into the Western Regions. What is the use of making this iron pipe?"

"Can it help me defeat the Huns?"

Shen Bing replied with a smile:

"But the captain guessed that this iron pipe was used to break the Xiongnu!"

Wang Ben had disbelief written all over his face:

"This iron pipe... can break the Xiongnu?"

"Don't be joking, General!"

Shen Bing just smiled and didn't explain much.

Many things cannot be explained clearly.

For example, telling Wang Ben that this iron pipe can shoot solid iron bullets hundreds of steps away... that is beyond his imagination.

Chapter 412 letter

The casting of the cannon went smoothly, thanks to Minghui's overall planning and distribution.

Before the new iron was smelted, Ming first used bronze to make the outer layer of the cannon.

But in the meantime, the caravan from the Central Plains rushed to Shazhou.

The caravan brought not only a large amount of silk and cloth, but also the owed iron smelting team and gunpowder raw materials.

Shen Bing didn't think too much about it, and immediately asked the owed team to take over the production.

Market trade is not going well.

This is not to say that the Yuezhi people do not like silk.

In fact, silk will be sought after no matter where it goes.

The problem is that silk is too expensive, and one piece of silk can be exchanged for two or three horses when it is shipped to Shazhou... how can ordinary people take out three horses to enjoy silk.

Therefore, only the nobles of the Yuezhi family could afford the exchange, including Qiu Jiuqie, who exchanged fifty bolts of silk in one breath for making clothes.

However, the nobles who could afford silk were few after all.

The tens of thousands of bolts of silk brought by the Central Plains caravan were not something the Yuezhi nobles could digest.

What the common people exchange more is cloth.

Although it can also be sold at a good price in Shazhou, where a piece of cloth can be exchanged for a sheep, it is much worse than silk.

Shen Bing knew why this happened:

The road from Shazhou to the Western Regions was cut off by the Xiongnu, so the Yuezhi caravans in Shazhou did not dare to buy even if they wanted to do silk business...

In business, you have to buy at a low price and sell at a high price to make money.

If the silk could not be transported to the Western Regions but could only be sold in Yuezhi, then there would be no money to be made.

Businessmen are not stupid, they all wait to see the situation.

From this, Shen Bing can also see that the Yuezhi people are not very confident that the Qin army can break through the siege of the Huns.

If the Yueshi estimated that the Qin army could defeat the Xiongnu and open up the trade route to the Western Regions, then they would buy a large amount of silk when the price of silk was not too high.

Once the Qin army wins the battle and confirms that the commercial roads are smooth, the price of silk will definitely rise at that time.

Shen Bing never knew from Qiu that his guess was right.

This time it was Qiu Jiuque who came to look for Shen Bing, and he persuaded Shen Bing:

"This king has heard about the Xiongnu's occupation of Gushi and Loulan."

"It is said that the Xiongnu stationed [-] troops in Loulan and [-] troops in Gushi."

"Let's use the people of Loulan and Gushi as slaves to build city defenses day and night..."

"In my king's opinion, the general should improve Yuezhi's city defense first, and it will take longer to come from the west, so it's not too late to make plans in the future!"

Shen Bing knew what Qiu Jue was planning.

Now Qin Jun and Yueshi are actually on the same boat.

The reason is that after the battle between Yueshijing and Qin Jun, his vitality was seriously injured...

This serious injury to vitality does not mean how many soldiers were killed or injured by the Yueshi.

In fact, the Yuezhi did not lose many troops, from [-] to [-] now, and some fled to the west.

The problem is that when the Qin army came and infiltrated the Yuezhi ranks with instructors, the Yuezhi slave system was shaken... Many Yuezhi soldiers and civilians expressed their willingness to join the Qin army.

This is normal, who wouldn't want to be a free man and be promoted with military exploits?

If it weren't for Shen Bing's strict order not to enter the Qin nationality at will in order to take care of the interests of the Yuezhi nobles, I'm afraid the Yuezhi army would have "surrendered" once again.

However, although the soldiers and civilians of the Yue clan did not do this, most of their thinking has turned to the Qin army.

Therefore, even if Shen Bing let go and returned the command to Qiu Jiuche, he would still be difficult to control.

Qiu understood this.

Therefore, if the Qin army was defeated by the Huns because of their eagerness to attack, then the Huns would counterattack and enter Shazhou next.

However, Qiu Jiu still hoped that he would continue to be the king of the Yuezhi, and at the same time, he also considered the interests of Shazhou, so of course he should build the defense of Shazhou first and then consider other things.

Shen Bing replied:

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty."

"Even if we want to attack the Xiongnu, we will leave [-] soldiers stationed in Shazhou."

"As long as Yangguan and Yumenguan can be guarded, Shazhou will not be in danger of falling!"

After Shen Bing said this, Qiu felt relieved.

Although the trade was not very smooth, it did not have much impact on the Qin caravan.

Because the silk that has not been sold yet can be stored in Shazhou, only a few people need to be left to take care of it and sell it at the same time.

The caravan returned to Qin State with a large number of furs, seeds, livestock, etc., and then went to Xitao to exchange silk cloth before transporting it...

Going back and forth like this, the wealth will rise exponentially within a few times.

And this group of rich people will soon attract people and businessmen from all over the world to Xitao to follow up... Shen Bing has already opened up a business route and paved the way, and the rest is just a matter of time.

While Shen Bing was dealing with various matters, a messenger came in and delivered a letter from Fusu to Shen Bing.

In the letter, the development status of Xiahetao and Xitao was first briefly mentioned, and then Xianyang was mentioned as soon as the writing was changed:

"I don't know if the general has heard that the father has invited a candidate again."

"There was Lu Sheng first, and then there was Hou Sheng... It is said that they were recommended by Zhao Gao, saying that these two people can find the elixir of life for the emperor."

"Fusu hopes that they can indeed find this medicine!"

Then there is no text.

But Shen Bing knew the meaning of Fusu's words.

Fusu is actually doubting the authenticity of the "elixir of life".

In fact, it wasn't just Fusu who was suspicious, anyone with a clear head knew that this was unlikely.

But who is Ying Zheng? Who dares to refute what he believes?

Even Mr. Fusu is no exception.

In fact, especially Fusu can’t talk about it, because if he is not careful, he will be labeled as “bad-hearted”:

As a prince, does Fusu not want the emperor to get the "elixir of life"?

Because once the emperor gets the "elixir of life", it means that Fusu has no chance to become the emperor.

Therefore, Fusu may intentionally hinder or even harm the emperor...

So Fusu could only vaguely tell Shen Bing about this in the letter.

Thinking of this, Shen Bing took out the fire folder and burned the letter casually.

Shen Bing can't comment on this matter, because Shen Bing's identity is also very special at this time... He is half of Fusu's teacher and has an interest relationship with Fusu.

If Shen Bing persuaded Ying Zheng, for example, that there was no "elixir of life" or something, would he be suspected of colluding with Fu Su?

At that time, not only will he harm himself, but he may also implicate Fusu.

But Shen Bing wasn't too worried.

Because he knew that Lu Sheng, Hou Sheng, and Xu Fu after that would not be able to make any big waves.

Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng just cheated some money, because they didn't find the "elixir of life", so they hid and caused the "pitting Confucianism" incident.

Xu Fu paid a higher price, and cheated [-] virgins.

Shen Bing didn't think he could change anything, so he just let it go.

If there is anything to worry about, it is that these so-called alchemists were all introduced by Zhao Gao.

Do Zhao Gao and Li Si have any plans?

Chapter 413

After much deliberation, Shen Bing couldn't figure out what conspiracy Zhao Gao and Li Si had, so he could only give up.

Shen Bing thought to himself:

"The big deal is just like what history said, after Yingzheng's death, Zhao Gao and Li Si falsely preached an imperial decree to bestow death on Su!"

"If it was in the past, you still need to worry."

"But now... when Shazhou has been controlled by the Qin army, there is nothing to worry about."

"Shazhou is guarded by Yangguan and Yumenguan on the outside, and the long and narrow Hexi Corridor on the inside."

"And it's thousands of miles away from Qin."

"As long as you stand on your own... at least Shazhou can hold on!"

Of course, this is just a conservative idea. In fact, with Shen Bing's current strength of more than [-] troops, coupled with the cavalry army he is training and the superior equipment, he is on par with the rest of the Qin army.

A few days later, Qiao sent someone to report that a copper cannon with an iron core had been made.

This is a few days earlier than what Ming said before, but it's not surprising... The casting of new iron has long been practiced, and the casting method only needs to smelt the new iron and then pour it into the mold.

Shen Bing was not in a hurry to check and accept, but asked Wang Ben to fetch some medicine packs.

The so-called "powder bag" is the gunpowder bag used for artillery firing.

Different from other gunpowder, the gunpowder in this medicine bag is no longer mixed randomly, and the proportion of saltpeter is the same as that of modern black powder, accounting for three-quarters.

Shen Bing didn't want the artillery that he had finally made to be transported to the city of the Huns, but it would not be able to play a role due to insufficient power.

When they arrived at the iron smelting workshop with Wang Ben and Li Yan in a carriage, they saw Qiao was polishing the fire door.

If there is any difficulty in casting the cannon, it is the Huomen.

Because this fire door requires a small hole to be left on the thick gun wall.

This hole can't be too big, if it is too big, the air leakage will be serious and the power of the artillery will be reduced in series.

Such a small hole cannot be completed with a mud embryo...The mud embryo is only suitable for large-scale forming. If such a slender strip of mud is left there, it may be washed away by the poured molten iron in two and a half times.

On the other hand, there is no drilling tool at this time, and if you want to drill a small hole in the gun wall to make a fire door after it is finished, I am afraid that it will not be completed in a few months.