Li Shimin's will: Li Zhi, the throne belongs to your brother

Every movement brought a piercing "cracking" sound, accompanied by countless iron filings that were cut off.

Elegant and orderly structure, dark metallic luster, the whole body glows with the power of steel and the beauty of machinery.

"That's great!!" Li Tai showed a sincere smile, and the steam finally started! !

"This is the steam engine?" Li Shimin was shocked by the scene in front of him, although he didn't know it.

Just as modern people cannot reject mechs, Li Shimin cannot reject the beauty of this kind of machinery.

Although he didn't understand why the steam engine in front of him was moving!

I don't even understand why iron can cut iron!

But it doesn't affect his love for this behemoth.

Li Tai explained with a smile.

"That's right, with the steam engine, manpower can be replaced.

It can replace cattle and horses to transport and cultivate land; it can also be used as a steam hammer to smelt steel; it can even be used as a steam ship to travel overseas;”

Instead of cattle and horses transporting and plowing?

He imagined the steam engine being served by two people, one adding coal, the other adding water, and dragging the plow.

It feels like it's not worth it. In the past, two people pulled the plow... and the iron was obviously not enough.

"Steam hammer forging steel?"

At this moment, he imagined in his mind a picture of a huge iron hammer continuously hammering huge steel, countless iron was forged into steel, and countless flying thunder cannons were manufactured.

This picture is simply beautiful! !

As for ships traveling overseas?

Li Shimin imagined in his mind that the ship no longer uses sails but a steam engine. With the steam engine driving the oars, it can travel at high speed even against the wind and the current.

In this way, wouldn't he be able to form a fleet and directly enter the East China Sea from Chang'an to take Goguryeo directly?

(The ancient Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea were called the East China Sea)

I don't know if the speed can work?What a loss!

Thinking about it, his ambition suddenly burst forth, and he asked directly, "I want a steam engine too."

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this is the method of manufacturing the steam engine that Cao Min sorted out!" Yang Siqi hurriedly took out a stack of thick notes from his cuff.

"Okay, there is a reward, I ordered you to be... um..." Li Shimin was stuck, unable to think of a good name and official position: "I ordered you to be the first-class official of the Liuwai, and the history of steam emergency supervision."

(Official positions in the Tang Dynasty were at the [-]th rank of the ninth rank. This is the product of the Zhongzheng system of the ninth rank. In addition to the ninth rank, there is also the ninth rank of Liuwai.)

(Even from Jiupinguan, there are many doctorates, such as doctorate in computing and doctorate in calligraphy.

The outsiders are relatively common occupations, such as medical workers in the Imperial Medical Office, staple food in Shangshuju, etc. These are equivalent to nurses and chefs. )

"This will be a huge change!" Li Tai looked at the steam engine in front of him with a confused look, then turned to Yang Siqi and asked.

"How was this steam engine made and how long has it been used?"

Chapter 126 Mortar

"Master, please come with your disciples." Yang Siqi led a group of people to the usual research place.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw various models, scattered papers, and arranged pens, inks, papers and inkstones on the feldspar table.

Among the many models, there are cannon models the size of a palm, and steam engine models the size of a Go board. Most of them are scattered parts and gears, which are very messy.

Yang Siqi stepped forward, picked up a model of an exquisite steam engine from the corner of the stone table, and placed it in front of Li Tai and the others.

When everyone took a closer look, the steam engine was brass-colored as a whole, and the size was like a computer mainframe.

"Every gear is the same size, and every riveting place is extremely fine."

Li Tai stretched out his hand and carefully swayed the piston, and the gears immediately spun idly: "It runs smoothly and freely, it's really a miracle."

Listening to the praise, Yang Siqi said braggingly: "This kind of exquisiteness is nothing to the disciple, the disciple can make the gold thread thinner than that hair."

In ancient times, smelting gold can pull gold into silk thinner than hair, which can be used to weave clothes. The clothes made are called golden thread clothes.

And as early as the time of the oracle bone inscriptions in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was micro-carving technology, which could engrave more than 1.7 characters on an oracle bone piece of 600 square centimeters.

This area is about the size of two thumbnails and is used to preserve military secrets, which no one has been able to crack so far.

"In the beginning, steel was used, and the first one was perfect, durable and smooth."

"Oh? Then the material and color are made of copper-iron alloy?"

Only then did Li Tai realize that there was something wrong with the color of the steam engine.

In my impression, not all steam engines are made of steel, and the color will oxidize to a dark color after a long time, but the one in front of me is obviously white with yellow.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​using copper?

"Master, you can tell right away, this is copper." Faced with Li Tai's doubts, Yang Siqi praised without leaving a trace.

"After the steel model was made, I started to make the real thing. Who would have thought that~ The steam engine exploded immediately, and the walls were blown down."

While speaking, Yang Siqi showed a look of fear.

The walls are blown down, it's too dangerous!

Li Tai's brows twitched when he heard this, and he hurriedly asked with concern: "No one was hurt, right!?" As he spoke, he turned his eyes to Yang Siqi for a good look.

This is a rare research and development personnel, nothing can go wrong!

"Master, don't worry. At that time, the disciple expected that there might be a problem the first time, so he asked the craftsman to put on the armor, and no one was hurt."

"That's good, then why did it explode?" Li Shimin on the side was very puzzled. Logically speaking, the model can work, so there is no reason for it to explode after it is made.

"Returning to Your Majesty, after inspecting the wreckage by the grass people, it was found that the materials did not meet the standards."

"The material is not up to standard??"

"When processing the model, the iron used is no more than a dozen catties, which can be easily processed into steel.

But once it becomes huge, many air holes will appear in the invisible interior during forging. It is the parts of these air holes that cannot withstand the force, which will crack and cause an explosion. "

Yang Siqi calmly explained the cause of the explosion.

It is not difficult for an old blacksmith to manually process pig iron from more than a dozen companies into tight steel.

However, the large cylinder we saw just now weighed more than a few dozen catties, or even hundreds of catties.

This means that it is completely impossible to do it manually, the volume is too large, and it cannot be separated because of the high sealing requirements of the cylinder.

It is only possible to use large-scale machinery, such as steam engine hammers, so that the materials can meet the standards.

In the absence of large machinery, copper must be used to avoid trachoma and pores.

The ductility and fineness of copper can make up for this defect of iron to a certain extent.

In the Wanli year, Western cannons were made of all cast iron, known as Hongyi cannons and Dongyi cannons.

But before that, the Luzon Big Bronze Cannon was used, which was made of copper-iron alloy, which was very heavy. There is a [-]-jin Luzon Big Bronze Cannon in the Eagle Country Museum.

Li Tai nodded, looked at the yellow color on it and said, "So this is made of copper-iron alloy?"

"Not only the steam engine is made of copper and iron, but even the cannon is made of copper and iron alloy." Li Chunfeng replied with a smile.

"Da Pao, hurry... let me see!!" Li Shimin's eyes lit up when he heard the Da Pao, his whole body became excited, and he hurriedly said to Li Chunfeng.

"The grassroots obey the order." While speaking, Zhang Yajiu and Li Chunfeng lifted the sackcloth in the corner, and the copper-iron alloy cannon was displayed in front of everyone.

"

The cannon is divided into three structures as a whole, the gun body, bracket and base.

The gun barrel is a 1.5-meter-long, [-]-centimeter-thick barrel, and a hollow tube made of copper-iron alloy with a thickness of [-] centimeters.

The gun brackets are two iron brackets with a diameter of more than one meter and a diameter of three centimeters, which are fixed near the muzzle.

The bottom one is a cast iron base with a [-]cm conical shape to resist impact.

The overall appearance is dark and shiny, and it stands quietly but exudes a ferocious aura, like a sleeping lion without anger and majesty, which makes people frightened.

Li Tai squinted his eyes and looked at the cannon, the joy in his heart was indescribable. The caliber was a full fifteen centimeters, and it suddenly fell apart.

However, the more it looks... the more it looks like... like a thickened water pipe with black paint? ? ?Maybe put two wheels on this thing.

There are brackets and a base. It looks like a mortar structure but weighs more than 300 kilograms. It should belong to a heavy mortar.

The lightest modern mortar is only six kilograms, and it looks like a water pipe, which can be carried around by a single soldier.

It is really unparalleled in power and domineering, and I seem to have seen victory. " Li Shimin praised with a satisfied smile, and hurried forward to caress.

"Just from the muzzle, I feel that this cannon must be extremely powerful."

Li Shimin stretched his head to look into the muzzle of the gun, stretched out his hand and stroked the muzzle bigger than his palm and said.

Zhang Yajiu stood up at this time and explained.

"This cannon is manufactured based on the Feilei Cannon of His Royal Highness, through continuous improvement.

Cao Min thickened and lengthened the barrel, and then used the copper-iron alloy prepared by Yang Siqi, and then used a piece of steel to offset the impact, and the angle can be adjusted with the bracket.

So I got such a cannon weighing three hundred catties. "

Li Shimin nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and praised without hesitation: "Okay, very good!! I like this cannon. Have you tried the cannon? How powerful is it?"

"The power of this cannon can be fired less than 1000 meters with stone bullets, and 300 meters with iron bullets or copper lead bullets."

"300 meters?" Li Shimin's eyes widened and he exclaimed in disbelief.

We must know that the killing range of ancient bows and arrows is between 50m and 70m. If the elevation angle point of 45° is the farthest, it can reach 300m.

And the cannon in front of him actually has a range of 300 meters, how could this not surprise Li Shimin.

Li Tai couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this range, the speed of this technological development was beyond his imagination.

(The shooting range of a single crossbow is about 150m, and the combat distance is 100m for flat shooting, while the modern compound bow can reach a killing range of 320m.

The minimum range of light mortars is 46m, the maximum range of Huaxia is 2700m, the range of Miguo can reach 3600m, the range of Faguo can reach 4600m, and even the caliber can reach 7000m. )

Li Shimin stretched out his hands excitedly and wanted to move the mortar, but he could only move a little with his blushing face.

(In fact, the ancients were very powerful, but they were also very few. For example, Confucius, who lifted the gates of the city with strength, was able to fight cattle, cunning rabbits with his feet, and pierced Yang with a hundred steps.)

"Come on, move him out, I want to see if this cannon is really so powerful!"

Li Shimin, who couldn't move, turned his head and said to the group of people behind him.

"Yes!" Listening to Li Shimin's order, everyone saluted and started to act.

Zhang Yajiu turned around and pushed a two-wheeled cart full of straw from the outside. With the concerted efforts of four people, the mortar was placed in the two-wheeled wooden cart.

And Li Chunfeng is pushing another wooden cart. On the wooden cart are cannonballs of different shapes, some are spherical, some are in the shape of nails...

One of them surprised Li Tai the most. This shell was not oval, but a conical shape with three tail fins inserted behind it.

Li Tai frowned, pointed to one of them and asked, "This cannonball...".

Li Chunfeng explained casually: "This is cast with reference to the arrowhead and tail mold of the arrow. It is not only accurate, but also able to fly farther!"

"Amazing!!" Li Tai was dumbfounded, and said with insincere emotion.

That's it, no wonder this thing looks so familiar.

Ordinary arrows are flat rhombuses, but the area where the gun barrel cannot bear force is too small, so a conical shape is obtained after one rotation, and the side fins become like this.

This appearance is very similar to the shells of later generations, which is really amazing.

"Why don't you use stone bombs?" Li Shimin frowned and leaned over, looking at the metal shells with different shapes in puzzlement.

Zhang Yajiu hurriedly explained: "The stone bullet is too brittle, and it is easy to explode in the barrel. Not only will the lethality be reduced, but more importantly, the life of the barrel will be shortened, so the use of metal bullets was made after discussion."

It is true that the stone is too brittle, Li Shimin can barely understand this, and his brows stretched.

Thinking about it in my heart, three hundred catties of steel and copper are produced, and the firing has to be metal bullets... This consumption is a bit scary!

"If you want to make it explode, you have to cast it into a hollow shell and fill it with gunpowder."

"Fire cotton? New explosives?" Li Shimin, who was calculating, was extremely surprised when he heard the new word 'fire cotton', and asked Zhang Yajiu with his eyes.

Zhang Yajiu hurriedly talked about Li Chunfeng.

"This gun cotton is a more powerful explosive developed by the minister. Not only does it not leave any residue, but it is also smokeless and more powerful. After many experiments, we all agree that this is the best explosive today."