When Chang Fang saw Ma Cheng's surprised eyes, he knew that the Second Master probably thought that the army all over the country used this kind of gunpowder. Chang Fang lay on Ma Cheng's ear and whispered: "Second Master, this is the card of the Weapon Bureau. The output of this gunpowder is very low. In addition to the Weapon Bureau, there are several gunpowder workshops, which are shoddy there!"

Ma Cheng realized after hearing Chang Fang's words. There were only a few people here and only how much gunpowder is produced every day. You should know that the Ming army is not considered an inland guard army, but the army on the nine sides has more than 400,000. With the output of this kind of gunpowder workshop, it is impossible to supply at all.

However, Ma Cheng was surprised at the gunpowder process in the Ming Dynasty. In fact, he didn't have to be surprised. This gunpowder production process had matured for hundreds of years before industrialization. It was Britain that defeated the Qing Dynasty in the Eagle War. At that time, the gunpowder process was not much more advanced than that of the Qing Dynasty. It was nothing more than that of the British, which had already appeared in basic chemistry, and chemistry could be used to purify some raw materials.

As a time traveler, Ma Cheng is advanced here. Although Ma Cheng did not study well in later generations, he was influenced by the college entrance examination system in later generations. He remembered many chemical formulas in his mind. Ma Cheng knew several of these saltpeter purification methods.

In addition to these, Ma Cheng also discovered that although the Ming Dynasty knew that gunpowder granulation could increase the power of gunpowder, the gunpowder particles had not been polished smoothly, so there was room for further improvement in the process.

After Ma Cheng transferred the gunpowder workshop, he said to Liu Benzhong: "Yes, can this gunpowder workshop be allocated to me?"

How could Liu Benzhong do this when he heard this? This is a face-saving project of the Weapons Bureau. If he gave it to Ma Cheng, how could he ask the ministry for money?

Liu Benzhong shook his head into a rattle and would never give it to Ma Cheng. Ma Cheng knew that Chang Fang was right at this moment. Perhaps this was a face-saving project of the Ministry of War, so he naturally could not give it to himself. However, if Ma Cheng was born in the year of a dog, he would not let go if he bites it, and insisted that Liu Benzhong give him a gunpowder workshop.

In the end, Liu Benzhong had no choice but to hand over a small workshop of more than a dozen people in the city to Ma Cheng, but Ma Cheng was not finished. He had to leave Liu Benzhong with twenty skilled gunpowder craftsmen to finish.

The satisfied Ma Cheng said to Liu Benzhong: "I have finished watching this here. Let's go and take a look at the artillery workshop!"

When Liu Benzhong heard that Ma Cheng was going to see the cannons, he quickly said, "Sir, we don't produce cannons here. Because the iron in Jiangnan is not good and is easy to become brittle, the cannons are all produced in Guangdong!"

When Ma Cheng heard Liu Benzhong say this, he remembered that it seemed that until the end of the Qing Dynasty, Jiangnan could not produce high-quality iron, and all Guangdong iron transported from Guangdong. The reason is very simple. China uses coal to make steel, and the iron ore in Jiangnan contains sulfur. Naturally, the sulfur in pig iron exceeds the standard, so pig iron is prone to brittle. Iron smelting in Guangdong is made of charcoal. In addition, Guangdong's iron ore comes from Qiongzhou, the only iron ore in China, so there is no brittle phenomenon.

Ma Cheng knew this news in later generations and knew that desulfurization of pig iron was very simple, it was just to add some dough alkali to the molten iron. However, Ma Cheng did not want to tell Liu Benzhong this news. There was no secret method for later generations in the Ming Dynasty. If this news spread and fell into the hands of the Qing Dynasty, it would be enough for him to suffer.

"Mr. Liu, then are there any craftsmen who can make iron craftsmen here?" But if you don't say that, you still want craftsmen who can make iron craftsmen, and Ma Cheng also wants to make steel by himself.

Liu Benzhong answered when he heard Ma Cheng's question and replied: "The Weapon Bureau copied the Red Cannon during the Tianqi period. At that time, we refined the iron ourselves. After finding it too crisp, the cannon workshop was abandoned. At that time, some craftsmen were assigned to the musket workshop. If the adults need villains, they will be transferred to the adults!"

Now that iron smelting is not allowed in Nanjing, these craftsmen can only do some low-level jobs here, and Liu Benzhong is also happy to drive away these guys who are doing food.

Next, Liu Benzhong accompanied Ma Cheng to the musket workshop on the shore. It was much larger than the gunpowder workshop, with hundreds of houses in front and back.

Ma Cheng walked into a room and the heat came over his face. The craftsmen inside were naked and were pounding iron bars.

Liu Benzhong explained on the side: "Sir, this is the workshop for making gun barrels. Look, the craftsmen first heated and beat the cooked iron transported from Guangdong into iron bars, and then processed it into gun embryos."

Ma Cheng saw iron bars standing next to him. Ma Cheng picked up one and looked carefully. The diameter of the iron bar was about three centimeters.

"Ambassador Liu, is this a gun embryo?"

"Sir, this is just a rough processing workshop. This kind of gun embryo needs to be forged to make the inside of the iron parts closer! The next workshop is the forging workshop, please!" Liu Benzhong said, "After speaking, he led the way in front and led Ma Cheng into the next workshop.

This workshop is similar to the previous workshop, and more than a dozen blacksmiths were focusing on ironing with their upper body bare. In their hands, the cylindrical gun embryo was forged into hexagonal shapes and then placed in the pool on the edge to quench and cool.

When the red gun embryo was put into the cooling pool, a stream of blue smoke came up. Ma Cheng smelled a scent of urine. Ma Cheng cursed: "Ambassador Liu, don't you pay attention to hygiene? Why are there anyone else drowning in this pool?"

Liu Benzhong knew that Ma Cheng was an amateur and quickly explained: "Sir, this pool is horse urine, which is used to quench the gun tube. Using horse urine is better than using water, and the gun tube is harder!"

As early as the Song Dynasty, Chinese people discovered that using animal blood or urine to quench them is better than water, and iron tools are more durable and harder. Although Ma Cheng knew a lot of theoretical knowledge, he didn't know about this small link. In fact, this is also a common problem in ancient China. In terms of the general direction of manufacturing, China's dynasties were no less than the West in all dynasties, but this lack of attention to small links has made China's manufacturing industry retreat more and more.

After leaving this workshop, Ma Cheng came to the next workshop, which is the most critical department for musket manufacturing, the drilling workshop.

Yes, everyone is right. The most advanced muskets in the Ming Dynasty, such as the Lumi gun, were all drilled.

Before the Ming Dynasty, most of the muskets and gun barrels were rolled, that is, the blacksmith first forged the iron block into iron sheets, and then rolled them into a cylinder before taking them cold. Of course, the strength of this kind of gun barrel is not high and it is easy to explode. However, the power of gunpowder in the early Ming Dynasty was not so great, so it was very safe.

However, in the late Ming Dynasty, because of learning Western gunpowder technology, the power of gunpowder increased a lot, and the original production technology of muskets was not good. At this time, Zhao Shizhen, an expert from the Ming Dynasty, invented the Lumi gun with reference to Turkey's heavy muskets, which were drilled gun barrels.

At the same time, in order to process the gun barrel, Zhao Shizhen also invented a simple drilling machine, and now the one that appears in front of Ma Cheng is one.

This drilling machine is somewhat like a beheading table in the West. The platen is about two meters above the ground and has a high bracket on it. The forged gun barrel is erected and fixed under the platen. The workers operate the drill bit on it to drill the gun barrel through.

Drilling has many benefits. First, it ensures that the barrel is smooth and can maximize the power of gunpowder. Second, it ensures that each barrel has the same caliber, which avoids the non-universal parts between the musket and the musket. There are a total of ten drilling machines in this workshop, which can process ten barrels at a time.

Ma Cheng looked at the drilling speed very slowly, probably the craftsman was afraid of drilling out the gun barrel. Ma Cheng asked Liu Benzhong beside him: "Ambassador Liu, how many gun barrels can you process in this weapon bureau a day?"

"Sir, there are 30 drilling machines in this bureau, which can produce 30 gun barrels at the same time. It only takes time to process the gun barrel, and it takes five days to produce one gun barrel."

One gun barrel in five days, that is, thirty gun barrels can be produced in five days, and one hundred and eighty gun barrels a month. This is too low in production efficiency. Ma Cheng just calculated based on perfect efficiency. If the tool wear, production loss and other factors are added, the maximum is one hundred gun barrels per month.

This production speed is not good at all. Ma Cheng had to organize at least 5,000 musketeers within a year. According to the production of 100 musketeers per month, it would take five years to be equipped. The Qing Dynasty would have to go south in one year, and it would take less than five years. If all musketeers were not equipped in half a year, Ma Cheng would have to escape.

Ma Cheng climbed onto the drilling machine and looked around and found that the transfer bed had a lot of room for improvement. At the same time, he found that the most laborious thing was the drilling stage. Perhaps for fear of producing waste, the drill bit was drilled very slowly, and the kinetic energy was still completed by manpower. Ma Cheng saw two workers above pushing the turntable hard, and then the power was transmitted to the drill bit through the belt.

Of course, this all-management method is very slow. Ma Cheng asked: "Amistantor Liu, this artificial method is too slow. Can't it be changed to hydraulic power?" There is no shortage of rivers in the south of the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River is next to Nanjing. It is possible to set up water trucks on the edge of the Yangtze River, and then use the water truck to drive the drilling machine, which will be much faster.

Ma Cheng thought he had made a rational suggestion, but then Liu Benzhong explained: "Sir, it will certainly be much faster to use water power, but there are many people on the Yangtze River. In order to ensure that the craftsmanship of the Lumi gun is not out of the blue, it can only be produced in places far away from crowds!"

Ma Cheng thought that this was also a reason. In Ma Cheng's opinion, Lumi gun was a backward comb-rope gun, but in the eyes of the Qing Dynasty, the bandits were precise weapons. It would be a problem to let the Qing Dynasty learn it.

Ma Cheng thought about it if there was a good source of power for production in inland, then there was only the steam engine. Ma Cheng learned the principles of steam engines when he was studying in later generations, and also saw what Watt improved steam engines looked like in history books, but he knew it was one thing, and it was another thing to make it. Ma Cheng didn't know if he could produce it.

Gunpowder, steam engine, steel, and Ma Cheng quietly wrote down these keywords in his heart. These things were the catalysts for the rapid advancement of the weapons manufacturing industry in the Ming Dynasty. After Ma Cheng's observation, the Ming Dynasty military factories had completely formed a scale and had basic management processes, which were nothing more than no breakthroughs in key technologies.
Chapter completed!