During these days, Li Lu was busy digging trenches, Zhang Degui was busy transporting wood, Zhang Chen was busy looking for saltpeter, and Pan Wenmao was busy boiling saltpeter to make gunpowder, and he had to follow the process mentioned by Yang Zhen to mix the prepared black

Gunpowder is granulated, and everyone is busy.

Correspondingly, it was impossible for Yang Zhen to let the right wing of Zhang Guogan's Musketeers sit idle.

Zhang Guogan was relatively proficient in the shotguns and muskets of this era, and was also interested in modifying the remaining matchlocks, so Yang Zhen sent him to be responsible for modifying all the remaining matchlocks.

According to Yang Zhen's arrangement, Zhang Guogan and more than a dozen people from the right wing of the Musketeers stayed with Wang and his son, Liu Da, Liu Er and others from the ironworks all day long.

The few men on the right wing of the Musketeers were also divided into two groups.

A group of old men followed Wang Shoutang to the ironworks and continued to modify the remaining matchlock guns.

The other group followed Wang Xuan, deputy director of the ironworks, and worked hard to make the bayonet installed on the front of the musket that Yang Zhen had given them.

The steel blade originally hidden in the butt of the "Lumi Gun" was also removed by Wang Xuan and the others.

As more and more Tatar heavy artillery shells were found inside and outside Songshan City, the ironworks no longer had to worry about the iron materials needed to make bayonets or other iron tools.

But making a bayonet requires good steel, and this thing cannot be made in a short while.

Even though the advance battalion has now entered Songshan City, and Wang Shoutang and his son at the ironworks also know the art of ironmaking, it is still a problem to produce high-quality steel in a short period of time.

Fortunately, there is such a steel blade hidden in the butt of the Lumi gun made in the Wanli period.

Therefore, Wang Xuan told Yang Zhenyi that he needed to take out the blade from the stock of the Lumi gun and use it to wrap the bayonet with steel. Yang Zhen agreed without hesitation.

In this way, the three east wing rooms in the third courtyard of the Songshan City City God's Temple were quickly transformed into a "blacksmith shop" by the ironworks. The fire was burning day and night, and the sound of forging could be heard all day long.

The ironworks was located in the third courtyard of the Chenghuang Temple, which was convenient for Yang Zhen, as he could come over and give advice at any time.

Of course, Yang Zhen had never worked as a blacksmith, but this did not prevent him from putting forward his own ideas about ironmaking and ironmaking in ironworks based on the common sense of later generations.

For example, the problem of using traditional blacksmithing technology to forge the barrel of a musket.

One morning, Yang Zhen was awakened by the clanging sound of iron. He suddenly remembered that he was not used to the Yan Ling knife that his predecessor was used to, so he got up and went to the ironworks, hoping that Wang Shoutang and his son would destroy the Yan Ling knife.

Okay, use that steel-clad Yan Ling knife to give yourself an axe.

Yang Zhen had been chopping firewood to burn the kang since he was a child. Before he left home to go to college at the age of eighteen or nineteen, almost all the firewood and sticks at home were his work.

He doesn't know how to chop people with a knife, nor is he good at it, but he is a skilled worker with an ax to chop wood, and he has an almost instinctive skill.

Holding a well-made ax in his hand makes him feel more at ease than holding a precious Yanling knife.

So, he asked someone to find pen, ink and paper, and roughly drew an ax head according to the shape of the battle ax used by the Vikings. He excitedly brought his sketch and the old Yan Fei Dao to make iron.

Place.

However, when Yang Zhen arrived at the ironworks and saw with his own eyes that Wang Shen used the forging method to forge and pack steel for the bayonet he designed, he immediately thought of making musket barrels.

So, when Wang Shen stopped and continued to heat the half-battered bayonet, he temporarily put aside the idea of ​​a Viking battle ax and quickly asked Wang Shen:

"Mr. Wang! You are so proficient in forging and packing steel. Can you just use the forging method to make the barrel of a bird gun?!"

The most difficult part of making muskets in this era was making the barrel.

In this era, there is no other way to make seamless copper and iron pipes but through mold casting or forging.

However, the Fan casting method can be used to cast gun barrels, but it cannot be used to cast gun barrels. Not only is the scrap rate extremely high, but the finished product has an extremely high chamber explosion rate during use.

Therefore, the general approach is to forge.

As for the drilling method that was common in later generations to make seamless steel pipes, in this era of the late Ming Dynasty, there was no need to think about it, and it was impossible to do it.

Yang Zhen also read a lot of historical time travel novels in later generations. He always saw the protagonists in the novels traveling through the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties using drilling methods to directly mass-produce seamless steel pipes to make muskets and artillery.

Whenever he saw this, he could only hold his nose and jump over, or simply abandon the article.

Because that is all nonsense. During the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, it was simply impossible to directly mass-produce seamless steel pipes by drilling.

Therefore, Yang Zhen didn't think so at all. He asked Wang Shen directly about the forging method, and he was also mentally prepared for Wang Shen to pour cold water on him.

However, what surprised him was that Wang Xuan, who looked innocent and only knew how to work, looked up at him and said something that surprised him:

"It's okay, it's okay! It's just that we don't have the tools right now, so it will take some effort to make them! Besides, short barrels are easy to make, but long barrels are now difficult!"

"As long as you can do it! As long as you can do it! Don't rush this matter right now! If short blunderbuss tubes are easy to forge, you can finish your work for a while and wait until the tools are available. Get me two short-barreled hand blunderbuss first!"

Yang Zhen originally thought that after he said this, Wang Shen would shirk or put forward some conditions. He was also prepared for this. As long as he could do it, any conditions would be negotiable.

But Wang Sheng's performance once again exceeded his expectations.

After Wang Zhen heard what Yang Zhen had said, he didn't say anything. He just looked at Yang Zhen and nodded, and then continued to forge the red-hot bayonet.

Yang Zhen was overjoyed to learn from Wang Shen that his father and son could forge the barrels of muskets, but he did not forget the cold weapon tomahawk he wanted.

After transferring from Wang Sheng's place, Yang Zhen went to Wang Shoutang's place next door, talked about his idea of ​​building a battle ax, and then handed the sketch he drew to Wang Shoutang.

Although Wang Shoutang had never seen the style of ax drawn by Yang Zhen, making such a thing was still a piece of cake for Wang Shoutang, except that the blade of the ax was a little longer and the body of the ax was slightly curved.

Wang Shoutang, who had been put in a position of great importance, was in a good mood and immediately agreed.

At noon the next day, Zhang Guogan came to Yang Zhen with a black and white axe.

The black ax body is made of iron, and the white ax blade is made of steel and has been sharpened.

The shape is exactly the shape of the Viking one-handed battle ax painted by Yang Zhen. One end is a blade slightly longer than the ax body, and the other is an undercut tail.

The two-foot-long wooden handle is made of unknown wood. It has a slight arc and has been polished. It can be held tightly in the hand and is easy to chop with force.

The whole body, including the ax head and wooden handle, weighs about seven or eight kilograms, and most of the weight is concentrated on the ax head. It can be wielded with one hand or chopped with both hands, making it very convenient.

Zhang Guogan saw that Yang Zhen couldn't put it down while holding the ax carefully crafted by Wang Shoutang. He knew that there must be something in it, so he asked:

"Sir! The weapon you asked the ironworks to make looks very rare! It's different from ordinary axes. What's the name for it?!"

"Haha! There's no explanation. If you have to give it a name! Just call it a piece of iron! It's just a piece of iron!"

In the next few days, Yang Zhen would take the "piece of iron" carefully crafted for him by the old blacksmith Wang Shoutang from time to time, regaining the "skills" he had put aside for many years in his previous life, venting his countless released energy, and also helping

The ironworks chopped out piles of firewood and sticks.

Relaxed and leisurely days always pass quickly.
Chapter completed!