Wu Yizhou laughed loudly and said: "Master, don't worry! It will be done properly!"

Liu Pei said seriously: "Yizhou, you have to remember one thing, that is, don't let your men get involved. Your men are soldiers, warriors, not robbers who kill people and steal goods. This kind of thing makes Liu Jiang's

Just let your subordinates do it, do you understand?"

Wu Yizhou quickly raised his hands and said, "I understand, Patriarch. Don't worry, Patriarch Qing, I will definitely restrain my subordinates."

Liu Pei sighed and said: "How many armies in the past dynasties were loyal, brave and well-disciplined in the early days of their establishment! But often the bad things are caused by military discipline! So you must remember to take military discipline as your first priority.

The first priority! Especially since the navy has been floating on the sea for a long time, people feel a little uncomfortable, so it is not uncommon to do some weird things. But we must not let them turn into a group of murderous gangsters. "

At this time, a servant came to report and said: "I would like to inform the owner of the house that all the things in the village have been moved and everyone has boarded the boat. Please give me your instructions."

Liu Pei waved his hand and said: "Let's go home!"

A month and a half later, a very big case of mass murder occurred in Songjiang Mansion. The head of the deceased family was a member of the family. All 14 members of the family died unexpectedly. An autopsy was conducted and it was confirmed that the person had been dead for two days. At the same time, another body was found at the scene of the crime.

Judging from his clothes and body, he was undoubtedly a pirate. Moreover, the officers also found a lot of property that was obviously stolen property in Juren's house! So in the end, the county magistrate concluded that this was a pirate internal conflict caused by uneven distribution of spoils. The Juren was a pirate.

Nest owner on land.

While the officers were desperately tracking towards the seaside, the people who took action had already headed inland with easy-to-carry gold, silver, jewelry and other financial items, and quietly joined the convoys on the road to return to Shandong.

Already.

When Liu Pei returned home, another good news came. It turned out that Liu Jiang had bought back two cannon-casting craftsmen in the military camp. Liu Pei was very happy to hear the news! He immediately ordered someone to set up a special cannon-casting workshop and sent a person to take charge.

In order to hone their calculations, Liu Pei specially arranged for them to try to cast a few small cannons first. However, Liu Pei did not let them use the traditional sand mold casting method, but taught them the iron mold cannon casting method.

China's iron mold cannon casting method was pioneered in 1841 by Gong Zhenlin, a native of Suzhou's Changzhou County in the Qing Dynasty and the then Prime Minister of Jiaxing County, Zhejiang. It was 30 years earlier than the West. The book "Illustrated Description of Iron Molds for Casting Cannons" written by him is regarded as the best in the world.

The earliest scientific and technological monograph that systematically discussed metal mold casting cannons was included in the scientific and technological series "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" compiled by Wei Yuan.

This iron-moulded cannon must first be divided into 4 to 7 sections according to the size of the iron cannon to make a clay cannon. Then the iron-moulded clay mold is made according to the number of clay cannon sections. Each section of the clay mold is divided into two parts.

, spin the inner surface with a lathe to make the surface smooth and regular in shape, and then dry it for later use.

A prefabricated handle is placed in the clay mold, which is integrated with the iron mold during casting. When the clay mold is used to cast the iron mold, first turn the muzzle section upside down on a clay flat plate, fill one of the sections with mud, and dry it.

Finally, cover it with a mud 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 the other piece of the iron mold in the same way. In this way, you can cast it section by section.

A complete set of iron molds that are joined layer by layer.

When the iron cannon is finally cast with an iron mold, the inner surface of the mold is first painted with a paint made of fine rice husk ash and fine sand mud mixed with water, and then a second layer of paint made of extremely fine coal powder is applied, and then the iron is tightened

Mold, bake it, assemble the clay core, and pour molten iron. After solidification, immediately take off the iron mold. While the gun body is still red-hot, remove burrs and remove the ceramic core, and you will get the finished artillery piece.

This method is much faster than the original methods such as the mud mold method and the lost wax method. Compared with the mud mold casting method, the advantage of the iron mold casting method is that the process is simple and easy, saves mold raw materials, is not limited by climate conditions, and shortens the time.

The manufacturing cycle is reduced, the production cost is reduced, there is no moisture problem, and in particular, the problem of no honeycomb is solved, thereby greatly improving the quality of artillery casting and significantly reducing the casting scrap rate.

The gunsmiths lived for several months and became familiar with the iron mold casting method, but they still couldn't figure out the bore cooling method that Liu Pei taught them. The key is that Liu Pei only knew the principle, but not the specific method. He had to hand over the method.

Let the blacksmith explore slowly.

The so-called central cooling method is to use running water to dissipate heat inside the core to cool the barrel, so that the inside of the barrel can be hardened first. When the outer metal of the barrel is cooled, it shrinks inward, and the metal structure of the entire barrel becomes

It is stronger and can greatly reduce the phenomenon of barrel cracks caused by uneven cooling and heat dissipation when casting a cannon. The 6-pound small cannon currently cast is okay. Even if it is really cast, it will only be 5oo pounds of pig iron, but if it is a large-caliber heavy cannon,

, the wall of the gun barrel is much thicker than that of a 6-pound gun, and uneven cooling will easily occur after casting. Without this method, it will be difficult to control the scrap rate.

In the end, it was not the gunsmith who came up with the solution, but the carpenter! The carpenter who came to help proposed that in the future when the cannon is cast, the muzzle should be raised upward, so that the ceramic core can be pulled out and put into the iron pipe for water cooling. This can be regarded as a solution.

It was just a layer of window paper, and it really didn’t matter if it was broken open. But Liu Pei still rewarded the carpenter heavily. So, it took nearly a year before the first artillery made by Liu Pei appeared!

Liu Peizhe also had another idea when he came back, which was to form an all-firearms force. He brought back a large number of firearms from modern times to experiment with infantry square formations. However, after practicing several times, he always felt that something was wrong. So he decided to

I put aside this thought for the time being and just thought about what the problem was.

inside?

While Liu Pei was drawing drawings at home, a soldier suddenly came to report that Yang Jingfa and Yang Qianhu had come to visit him. This made Liu Pei feel strange. What was Yang Jingfa doing visiting him? But he still went out to greet him.

As soon as Liu Pei walked out of the gate, he saw Yang Jingfa standing outside the gate with a servant. The servant was Yang Jingyuan who delivered the land deed to Liu last time. Yang Jingfa's appearance had not changed much after not seeing him for many days, but he seemed a little thinner. Liu Pei immediately raised his hand and said

: "Master Yang, I haven't seen you for many days."

Yang Jingfa also held up his hands and said, "Master Liu, you're fine!"

The two chatted and joked at the door, and Liu Pei invited him into the hall. After the soldiers served tea, Liu Pei asked, "I don't know why I'm here, Mr. Yang?"

Yang Jingfa pondered for a moment and said: "I have confidential matters that I would like to discuss with Mr. Liu in detail. Please step aside, Mr. Liu."

Liu Pei thought for a while and arranged for his soldiers to hold the door so that he could have a detailed discussion with Yang Jingfa. Liu Pei said: "My soldiers are guarding the door at this time, and no one will disturb us. Please tell me what is going on."

Liu Pei was very wary of Yang Jingfa's coming this time. After all, it was he who took over Yang Jingfa's position and caused Yang Jingfa to transfer elsewhere. So he thought Yang Jingfa's intentions might be bad, but he didn't know if his guess was accurate.

That's all.

Yang Jingfa stood up and bowed his hands to Liu Pei and said: "Master Liu, I really have something to ask for when I come here this time. I hope Master Liu can agree."

Liu Pei also stood up and said: "Mr. Yang, why should we be polite between you and me! If there is anything I can do, I will try my best to do it."

But Yang Jingfa looked a little red and a little embarrassed at this time. He said slowly: "I came here because I want to go to Mr. Liu and ask Mr. Liu to take him in."

After hearing this, Liu Pei couldn't help but open her mouth wide and stare in shock! After a long time, she said: "Mr. Yang, are you kidding me? This is not funny!"

Yang Jingfa sighed and said: "Master Liu, I really am not joking with you. I am indeed here to join you."

Liu Pei didn't know what to say at this moment. Liu Pei himself was just a member of a thousand households. And Yang Jingfa was also a member of a thousand households. The two were equals. How could Yang Jingfa have the idea of ​​joining him? This is totally unreasonable.

.

So Liu Pei said: "Mr. Yang, what happened in the middle? Can you tell me in detail?"

Yang Jingfa sighed again, and then explained to Liu Pei in detail. It turned out that Yang Jingfa was a relatively unconventional figure in the guard house when he was a Qianhuguan. However, he was hereditary as a Qianhuguan, and he was usually respectful to Shangguan, so there was no big deal.
Chapter completed!