Dominate the Country

Chapter 21 The Chen Family's Firearms Workshop

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Chen Ming was in Xiaonangou, but he was always listening to the news from the county. The Chen family's sharp means made the whole Lushan County see the determination of the Chen family. This is really to drive out Qingtiaoling in the county. Although the shadow of the mastermind has not been caught so far.

However, after this incident, Chen Ming's name is well-known in the homes of landlords and gentry in Lushan County. The Chen family made such a big fuss, which obviously shows the importance of Chen Ming, the next generation. To a certain extent, this incident can be regarded as a footnote to his position as the heir of the Chen family.

But the influence of this incident is far from over.

If the mastermind is not found, Chen Ming will not feel at ease, Chen Hui will not feel at ease, and the entire Chen family will not feel at ease.

No one wants to live under the prying eyes of others. People's interests are like dog bones, and they all have a strong "desire to protect" them. Besides, the Chen family has more than just bone china. The real money-making industry of the Chen family is iron materials. Bone china is not worth mentioning compared with iron materials. If the person in the dark touches the iron materials along the bone china, the blow to the Chen family will be immeasurable.

Don't pin your hopes on the enemy's "cowardice". If the mastermind behind the scenes is really frightened by the Chen family's big show and dares not to reach out again, it would be the best. But how likely is this? Xiaonangou is related to the century-old foundation of the Chen family!

So this matter is definitely not over. The entire Chen family continues to watch all directions and carefully observe any movement.

Chen Ming felt a sense of crisis in his heart. He didn't know what would happen to his family if Xiaonangou was exposed. Was it swallowed up and incorporated by the rich and powerful? Or was it a crime that the whole family ceased to exist?

Chen Ming began to intervene in the Chen family's firearms manufacturing in a real sense.

In the mountainous area near Xiaonangou, there is a small workshop equipped with two hydraulic forging hammers, four craftsmen and six apprentices. These six apprentices are the most reliable candidates selected by Chen Ming from 87 farmhouse children. In addition, there are two people with extraordinary identities, two of the Chen family's own clan children.

A total of twelve people, this is the current firearms workshop of the Chen family.

The last time Chen Ming came, he did not intervene in anything, but asked the four masters to stop repairing and making bird guns, and change to hand guns, or flintlock hand guns. Now Chen Ming is ready to ask them to start making flintlock muskets. However, **** is not something that the current Chen family has the conditions to manufacture, and Chen Ming will not pursue percussion cap guns. What the Chen family needs now is the flintlock guns and rifles they already have.

Is the percussion cap gun not good? Is the improved version of the rifle, the Minié rifle, not good? None of them. The fault is that the Chen family is weak now. When you are weak, it is best not to use those advanced weapons that have little technical content but have epoch-making influence. It is too easy for the enemy to obtain and imitate them.

Secrets are always secrets when one person knows them. If the percussion cap and the Minié rifle were to be manufactured, the former might have to be kept secret in the Qing Dynasty to a certain extent, because the Chinese chemistry value at that time was too poor. But the Minié rifle is different. As long as you get a sample gun and a few matching bullets, all secrets are no longer secrets. With the national strength of the Qing Dynasty, it is very easy to imitate. Even this kind of gun will spread overseas.

It is all nonsense to say that it is strictly guarded and strictly restrained. The most difficult thing to restrain in this world is the human heart. Even the most loyal soldiers will not be able to resist the temptation of money. Moreover, the Qing Dynasty at this time is already the orthodoxy in the world in the eyes of many Chinese people. When Chen Ming really started his army, he was a typical traitor. This made it difficult for Chen Ming to have full confidence in the "human heart" of his subordinates. I'm afraid that there is no need for the Qing court to speak. As long as there are local gentry and landlords who are interested in the Qing Dynasty, they can win over a few of them secretly, which is enough to get all the information and the best weapons of the Chen family army.

Chen Ming does not intend to release the percussion cap gun and Minié rifle without gaining an unshakable advantage in the war to unify the world. At present, the Chen family's privately made firearms are one level more advanced than the matchlock muskets of the Qing soldiers.

The small workshop is full of scattered objects. On a stove, a gun barrel that is already seamed is being heated.

At this time, the gun barrels are all made of wrought iron - iron bars are beaten into iron sheets, with steel rods wrapped in the middle, and they are heated again and again and hammered out bit by bit. This method continued in the original time and space until the second half of the 19th century - after the new steelmaking method and new special alloy steel knives were widely popularized, and the new smokeless gunpowder was invented, it was replaced with steel barrels.

Chen Ming also tried drilling. He asked the craftsmen to prepare the hardest and strongest drill bits of this era. The result was disappointing. All five expensive drill bits were used up, and only two qualified gun barrels were drilled. Reality proved that this method was not feasible, so the Chen family's firearms workshop returned to the old way of forging. Although the craftsmen of the Chen family never forgot Chen Ming's high reward, those who developed a high-strength drill bit could get a reward of 1,000 taels of silver. As long as the drill bit you invented can drill three gun barrels at a time, it is qualified.

China also has a tradition of "alloy" - bronze is the best example. Chen Ming also opened the door of "alloy" for them. Maybe one day these masters can really make qualified drill bits, but that is definitely not now.

Chen Ming also thought about "steel pipes". If there is crucible steel, then use the casting method directly to solve the gun barrel. As a result, it is not feasible.

First, it costs too much. Although the quality of crucible steel is average, steel is steel. Its value is far greater than wrought iron. Crucible steel is an important material for making mechanical knives in Europe. In Xiaonangou now, crucible steel is not very useful - making mechanical knives, but crucible steel is very useful for many small parts of hydraulic forging hammers. Steel parts are much more durable than iron parts, which can greatly improve work efficiency. In this way, crucible steel is also very useful.

Second, crucible steel is a hard steel with a high carbon content. The material is not elastic and will break if the force is too large. In addition, hard steel is not heat-resistant. It is not suitable for making gun barrels.

Finally, the fluidity of steel is very poor, and it can be said that it is not possible to cast such ultra-thin wall parts. Although it can be used to make gun barrels, it is not suitable if it is not suitable, and the success rate is very low.

The Chen family is not in a very urgent crisis now, and firearms can be slowly stored and prepared bit by bit. Chen Ming cannot convince the Chen family to use ten times the value to pursue speed.

So far, the only project that the Chen family used crucible steel to cast the barrel was the flintlock hand gun. Is the barrel short?

Chen Ming has standardized the firearms workshop and unified the scale. The four craftsmen are also working on the parts of the muskets. The Chen family signed a new contract with them in which they would pay according to the qualified rate and deduct money for unqualified products, so every craftsman is very serious. Their work is directly linked to their income, and the efficiency under the division of labor and cooperation is much higher than they expected when they worked alone before.

The biggest problem of a musket is of course the barrel, but it does not mean that everything is simple except the barrel. The trigger structure and the fire door, as well as the spring, etc., the parts that can be cast have also been cast here.

At the same time, it is precisely because of these cast parts that the parts produced by the entire firearms workshop must be standardized. Otherwise, it would be a joke.

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