One Piece of Song Dynasty

After explaining to Old Man Zheng, Li Xin said to Niu Gao: "Brother Niu, you take the soldiers and protect them wherever they build the road. You cannot let them be attacked by savages. Someone has already sent people along the road." I went in this direction to find out about the savages deep in the forest. I will notify you if there is any news."

Niu Gao clasped his fists and said, "Brother, don't worry. If a certain family finds out, a certain family will lead their soldiers to protect them."

The population of Xinghan City has reached , and Li Xin is ready to consider building a new city. This road is built to connect the two cities. The second city Li Xin wants to build is about sixty miles northeast of Xinghan City. , there is a natural harbor there, which is the Jilong Harbor in later generations. This second city will be built based on the harbor.

Li Xin does not plan to build Chicken Coop City as big as Xinghan City. It must be smaller than Xinghan City, with a circumference of thirty-two miles, so that it can accommodate about people in the future.

The construction of Jilong City is estimated to have to wait until the spring of next year to start. The construction of the sixty-mile road from Xinghan City to Jilong City is estimated to take half a year. Construction of the city will begin after the road is completed.

In the next few days, Li Xin began to follow the road construction team every day. Old Man Zheng divided the road construction team into two parts, one part built the road and the other part cut down the trees and burned the forest.

Roads began to be built, and fields began to be divided. Every day, some families would be assigned land, and then the old, weak, women, and children would go into battle to cultivate the land with farm tools.

Li Xin had just built the road with the road construction team for ten days when news came from the steel workshop, saying that the workshop had been built and could start making steel and iron, and the first batch of coke was also produced from the coking workshop. . net

After Li Xin got the news, he hurried back to his house to look through the blueprints for the Mo Dao and the artillery. After finding them, Li Xin took the blueprints to the steel workshop.

Li Xin met Old Man Zhang in the workshop: "Uncle Zhang, can this workshop start working?"

Old man Zhang nodded and said: "That's enough. The first batch of fuel has also been delivered. I have never used this fuel to make steel, so I don't know what the quality of the steel is."

Li Xin said with a smile: "Uncle Zhang has never used coke, so he must have used pebbles to make iron and steel."

Old man Zhang replied: "What the master said is that charcoal is commonly used by young people."

Li Xin took the coke and explained: "This coke is refined from pebbles."

Old man Zhang suddenly realized: "Oh, that's it. Since this thing is made from coal, I can rest assured."

Li Xin first handed the blueprint of Mo Dao to Old Man Zhang: "Uncle Zhang, look at this knife, do you recognize it?"

Old man Zhang looked at the Mo Dao blueprint and said, "I have made many swords, but I have never seen this sword."

Li Xin smiled and asked: "Uncle Zhang, have you ever heard of Mo Dao?"

Old man Zhang thought for a while and said, "Is this the Tang Mo Dao you are talking about?"

Li Xin nodded and said: "Yes, I am talking about Tang Mo Dao. Net"

Old man Zhang said: "I once heard the master who taught me how to blacksmith talk about the Tang Mo knife, but I have never seen the real thing, not even the drawing. Could it be that the knife on the drawing is the Tang Mo knife? ”

Li Xin smiled and replied: "Exactly, the knife on this drawing is the Tang Mo knife."

Old man Zhang hissed: "It turns out that Tang Mo Dao looks like this."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Yes, Mo Dao is a long knife. It weighs fifteen kilograms. It is also called a machete. It is seven feet long. The blade is three feet long. The handle is four feet long. There is an iron drill underneath. The Mo Dao is a big knife." The Tang Dynasty had a sharp weapon against cavalry. Uncle Zhang, you also know that since the founding of the Song Dynasty, because there was no place to raise horses, our Han army was mainly infantry with few cavalry, while the surrounding foreign tribes were mostly cavalry, so We are often bullied by foreigners, so Uncle Zhang, do you dare to forge the Mo Dao again, so that this weapon that the Han people use to deal with cavalry can once again reappear in the world."

Old man Zhang clasped his fists and said loudly: "Master, don't worry, I swear here that I will forge this sword, let it reappear in the world, and revive the majesty of our Han army."

Li Xin said: "Okay, with your words, I will feel relieved. When the Mo Dao is forged, I will give you a reward of two thousand dollars per person in the steel workshop."

Old man Zhang waved his hand: "Master, even if you don't pay the reward, the little old man will forge this sword. This sword represents the military soul of our Han army. The old man's master once told the old man I talked about how the Tang army used Mo Dao to make the barbarians from all directions surrender."

Li Xin nodded and said: "The reward that should be paid must still be paid. Let alone Mo Dao, Uncle Zhang came to take a look at this." As he said this, Li Xin handed the blueprint of the artillery to Old Man Zhang.

Old man Zhang frowned and looked at the drawing: "Master, what is this big iron bucket? I have never seen it before."

Li Xin said: "This thing is called a cannon. It is a kind of firearm. Uncle Zhang must have heard of a trebuchet, right?"

Old man Zhang said: "The trebuchet boy knows."

Li Xin nodded and said: "The trebuchet throws the stones out, and the artillery uses gunpowder to blast the stones out. Of course, the stones must be made round and the same size as the muzzle."

Old man Zhang asked: "Then this stone is much smaller than the trebuchet stone. How powerful can this thing be?"

Li Xin laughed and said: "You will know how powerful it is by firing a cannon. The key is that this cannon can hit farther than a trebuchet."

Old man Zhang asked: "Oh, how far can this cannon go?"

Li Xin replied: "The trebuchet can only hit one mile at the most. When the cannon is ready, it can hit at least three miles."

Old man Zhang said in surprise: "Can this cannon really hit that far?"

Li Xin nodded and said: "Seriously, Uncle Zhang, you will understand everything once you make it and shoot it."

Old man Zhang replied: "Okay, let's just wait and the young man will forge this cannon."

Li Xin continued: "Uncle Zhang, you divide the blacksmiths into two parts, one part makes Mo Dao, and the other part makes artillery."

Old man Zhang nodded and said: "Okay, Master, I understand."

Li Xin continued: "Uncle Zhang, I will tell you in detail about the production method of this cannon. The first step is to make a clay cannon according to the size of the iron cannon, divided into four to seven sections; the second step is to press the clay cannon." The iron mold clay mold is made according to the number of sections. Each section of the clay mold is divided into two parts. The inner surface is rotated with a lathe to make the surface smooth and regular in shape. It is then dried and ready for use. A prefabricated handle is placed in the clay mold and matched with the iron mold during pouring. Cast into one piece; in the third step, when turning the iron mold with a clay mold, first invert the muzzle section on the clay flat plate, fill one of the valves with mud, dry it, cover it with the clay flat plate, and tighten the mold , after pouring, you will get one piece of the first section of the iron mold, then remove the filling mud, and cast another piece of the iron mold in the same way. By pouring section by section, you can cast a complete set of iron molds with layers of mortises and tenons; When casting an iron cannon with an iron mold in four steps, first paint a paint made of fine rice husk ash and fine sand mud mixed with water on the inner surface of the mold, then paint a second layer of paint made from very fine coal powder, and then tighten it. Heat the iron mold, assemble the mud core, pour molten iron in it, and after it solidifies, immediately take off the iron mold. While the gun body is still red hot, remove the burrs and mud core to get the finished product." Li Xin looked at the drawings. He explained while gesticulating.