Ma Cheng has enough manpower but not enough materials, so there are no wood, bricks and tiles for repairing the house. However, this is not a problem for Ma Cheng. There are eight large camps in the Daxiaochang. Now, except for the Shenji Camp, which occupy two, one is occupied by the Zhenwu Camp, and the other five are uninhabited. Although those five are also broken bricks, they are indeed the best building materials.

Ma Cheng and two hundred people demolished the houses of the two camps to renovate their own camps. With the materials, the renovation work was much faster, and by the afternoon, the 100 houses were already in shape.

While Ma Cheng was leading people to work, more than a hundred large trucks came from the camp. It turned out that the supplies from Shenji Camp, the General of the Ministry of War, were delivered.

The leader was Chang Fang, who was slapped in the mouth. When he saw Ma Cheng, he quickly knelt down and apologized: "The villain didn't know the identity of the second master in the morning. He offended the second master, please forgive me!" After being beaten, Chang Fang learned about Ma Cheng's identity from the head of the Arsenal Department. He was so scared that he couldn't pull his pants. It was over that offend the son of the Minister of War. The key was that no one in the entire Ministry of War dared to plead for Chang Fang.

In the end, Chang Fang had no choice but to bite the bullet and come to Ma Cheng, hoping that the person who tied the bell must be untied, and Ma Cheng could forgive him.

To be honest, Ma Cheng had already forgotten the incident of beating people. That day, Ma Cheng was so busy that he hit the back of the head, and there was a clerk from the Ministry of War.

Ma Cheng looked at Chang Fang for a long time before he remembered and said, "Yes, you are not the bookkeeper who was beaten by me? What are you doing?"

Chang Fang took out a silver note from his pocket, with a denomination of 100 taels, which is already Chang Fang's entire net worth.

"Second Master, the little man is looking down at the dog's eyes. Please let the little man go. This is the little man's wish!"

Ma Cheng took it and looked at it for 100 taels, which was not bad: "Okay, I'll accept the money, the second master knows you're wrong!"

Chang Fang was overjoyed when he heard Ma Cheng say this, so he stood up to introduce the food and equipment he brought to Ma Cheng.

With the full cooperation of the Ministry of War, the arsenals in various parts of Nanjing City opened up to supply Ma Cheng. This batch of came one hundred stones of grain, one thousand best Lumi guns, and ten small cannons of Folang. The rest were military uniforms, gunpowder and other things.

In order to sell it well, Chang Fang specially opened a rice bag and said, "Second Master, please see. The villain dared not come to see Er Master with military ration mixed with sand. These are the good rice harvested last fall. Please check it out!"

Ma Cheng looked at it very well, all of them were good rice, and there was no obvious sand. However, the threshing technology in the Ming Dynasty was not up to standard, and there were still some gravels inside, but it did not affect consumption.

Ma Cheng nodded and asked, "No, Second Master is very satisfied! But what about the others?"

"Don't worry, Second Master, this is only a part. The other military food, weapons and equipment will be in place in a few days!" Chang Fang thought Ma Cheng asked about other things, but Ma Cheng did not intend.

"I mean, there is rice, where is the meat? Where is the dish?"

When Chang Fang heard Ma Cheng say this, he realized what it means. It turned out that the Ministry of War had to prepare these!

Chang Fangsi said ai: "Second Master, the Ministry of War only cares about food and grass, and prepares other side foods by itself!"

When Ma Cheng heard this, he thought that the army would take care of everything in the Ming Dynasty, just like later generations.

Seeing that Ma Cheng was not angry, Chang Fang felt relieved and continued, "Second Master, Lord Ding, ordered the villain to take the second master to receive the craftsman from the Weapon Bureau in three days!"

Unexpectedly, Ding Qirui was fast enough to contact the Ministry of Works so quickly. Ma Cheng was very happy to see that he was finally about to enter the fast lane, so he nodded to show that he knew.

In the next three days, Ma Cheng devoted himself to the formation of the army. Ma Cheng knew that this army was the capital for his future survival and he must not relax at all. Therefore, Ma Cheng did it himself in training, equipment, and cultural classes. Fortunately, the 100 people Ma Cheng brought out were basically formed. With them as grassroots officers, Ma Cheng saved a lot of effort.

Ma Cheng's army had a very good meal. In addition to three dry meals a day, he could also eat one or two taels of fat every day. This allowed Ma Cheng's newly recruited soldiers to quickly settle down. Although military training was quite hard, it would be a big deal to compare with being able to have enough food.

On the morning of the third day, Chang Fang came to the barracks on time. Today is the day when Ma Cheng went to receive the Weapons Bureau. Ma Cheng took his new division master Xu Zhenye and ten guards, and followed Chang Fang to the arsenal on the bank of Xuanwu Lake outside Dongcheng. It was also the largest arsenal in the Ming Dynasty south of the Yangtze River, the Jiangnan Weapons Bureau.

Jiangnan Weapons Bureau is a huge department. In addition to the production of weapons, there is also a Longjiang Shipyard outside Jinchuan Gate, which can be manufactured from small boats with a capacity of more than a dozen to ocean-going cargo ships with a capacity of four hundred.

The Jiangnan Weapon Bureau is under the management of the Construction and Examination Department of the Ministry of Works. The person in charge of a ninth rank ambassador. Although this ambassador is not at a high level, he is in charge of the entire Weapon Bureau and thousands of ship workers, so he has a lot of power.

The ambassador of the Weapons Bureau had received a notice from the Ministry of Works yesterday that the young master of Ma Ge was coming to select craftsmen today, so after the ambassador learned that Ma Cheng was coming, he quickly brought two deputy envoys of the Weapons Bureau and six clerks out to greet him.

When the ambassador saw Ma Cheng coming, he quickly knelt down and saluted, shouting loudly: "Little Man Weapon Bureau Ambassador Liu Benzhong, join his colleagues to pay homage to the General!"

In fact, although the Weapon Bureau manufactures weapons, it is indeed two departments with the Ministry of War, let alone Ma Cheng's Shenji Camp, which are completely unrelated to two units. However, Liu Benzhong wanted to flatter Ma Cheng, so he naturally had to lick his butt and pay homage.

Ma Cheng got off the horse and waved his hand, pretending to say, "Get up! Ambassador Liu should have received the written statement from the Ministry of Works!"

"The villain has received it yesterday. The ministry means to cooperate with the general!"

"That's good. I'm fine today. I'm just interested in your weapons production. At the same time, I like to make some firearms, so let's give it a little more!"

When Liu Benzhong heard Ma Cheng say this, he cursed in his heart: You, Qiu Ba, dare to say something? Of course, this is not Liu Benzhong's brag. The production of firearms in the Ming Dynasty is no less than that in the West, but it is a little worse in terms of specifications. The remaining gunpowder, iron smelting, etc. are not weaker than in the West.

Although Liu Benzhong scolded this in his heart, he dared to say something, so he nodded and said, "Yes! The General is right! I wonder where the General wants to see?"

Ma Cheng thought about the most important thing about a firearm is to launch the * medicine, let’s take a look at the gunpowder first!

"Take me to see your gunpowder workshop first!"

When Liu Benzhong heard Ma Cheng say this, he quickly led the way in front and came to the edge of Xuanwu Lake to prepare for a boat.

The Xuanwu Lake in the Ming Dynasty was very wide, five or six times larger than the Xuanwu Lake waters in later generations, and its area covers the entire northeastern part of Nanjing, extending from Shence Gate to Taiping Gate. The Xuanwu Lake is close to the city wall, which is the royal garden, but the side close to the Yangtze River is the Weapon Bureau. The gunpowder workshop under the Weapon Bureau is built on a small island north of Xuanwu Lake.

Because this place is a military important place, there are soldiers guarding it. However, Ma Cheng has written by the Ministry of Works, so he can naturally be smooth and helpless.

When you come to the island, you will find a gunpowder workshop. This place is not big, with only more than twenty houses, most of which are warehouses. Before you enter the yard, you will see rows of sheds, with rows of things as thick as chopsticks hanging below.

Ma Cheng didn't know what this was, so he called a craftsman and asked, "What is this?"

The gunpowder craftsman saw that it was brought by the ambassador and knew that it must be a big shot. He quickly knelt down and bowed and said, "Sir, the gunpowder made at this time, and when it is half dry, cut into the same medicine column. After it is completely dry, it will be the fire medicine of the Red Cannon!"

Ma Cheng was shocked when he heard this. He didn't expect that gunpowder pelletization had begun in the Ming Dynasty. In Ma Cheng's impression, gunpowder pelletization should be a matter of modern times. In the Middle Ages in the Ming Dynasty, there was such a technology?

In fact, what Ma Cheng didn't know was that firearms were very developed in the Ming Dynasty, and the gunpowder production process was infinitely close to perfection. Except for the fact that the most perfect proportions were not configured in the gunpowder formula, other processes were no longer much worse than those in the late Qing Dynasty.

Among the military books of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty gunpowder formulas are relatively complete, including "Fire Dragon Artifact Formation", "Wu Bian", "Military Records", "Wu Bei Zhi", "Fire Dragon Classic", "Western Swords", "Western Swords", "Fire Dragon Juya", etc., and other records of the varieties of gunpowder, such as "Ji Xiao Xin Shu", "City Guarding Rules", etc.

These total gunpowder formulas add up. In addition to the varieties and formulas of the Song Dynasty and Western gunpowder, as well as the repeated contents in different military books, there are about ninety types. These gunpowder varieties can be roughly divided into two categories, one is the firing medicine of the mesh gun, artillery, and fire door gun, the other is explosive gunpowder, spray gunpowder, burning gunpowder, etc.

During Ma Cheng's visit, he found that gunpowder production in the Ming Dynasty was very advanced. Craftsmen had to first select and refine the three raw materials, and then grind them into powder. The specific operation method is to weigh the portions according to the proportion and put them in a stone mortar or wooden trough and stir repeatedly to become fine powder. The second is to mix the three ingredients. The method is to mix them in proportion and add a little water or sour wine, mix the three powders into a wet mud, and stir continuously with a wooden pestle. In this process, it is necessary to prevent the entry of impurities such as sand and stone to avoid collisions during the stirring process and cause fires to occur. When the mixture is about to dry, add water and then pound the mixture to make the mixture fully and evenly mix, cut into the same strips, and then take it out and dry in a ventilated place.

Next, when the supervisory union conducts a quality inspection of the finished product, it selects a portion of the dried gunpowder products and puts them on the paper to burn. If it burns out quickly and the paper is intact, it is a qualified product. On the contrary, if black stars and white dots are left on the paper, it is still unqualified and needs to be reworked and then crushed until it is qualified.
Chapter completed!