Sure enough, there is still a problem of insufficient raw materials!

When Yang Zhen heard this, he turned to Zhang Degui and said: "Remember, we will talk about this issue later. There will be many battles we will fight in the future. The use of firearms and the demand for ammunition will only increase.

More, even doubled, and never reduced.

"If we don't have enough ammunition, what we will have to pay in the future will be the lives of our brothers, the lives of you and me! Therefore, whether it is sending people out to search, or spending a lot of money to purchase elsewhere, the Assistant Camp Affairs Office must solve the problem

Remove the problem of insufficient supply of nitrate and sulfur."

Zhang Degui heard what Yang Zhen said and immediately nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Yang Zhen also knew that this issue needed to be discussed in the long term, so he stopped talking about it and turned to Pan Wenmao: "Then what? Have you considered the issue of moisture prevention?"

"Don't worry, Governor, we have taken this into consideration. Not far from here to the northwest, there is Sanjian Fort, which is full of lime kilns. We are building stone walls here and renovating the city walls and factories, thanks to the lime from Sanjian Fort.

kiln.

"We used it to build walls and paint walls, including a layer of quicklime under the floor of the ammunition depot, which is enough to isolate moisture. Governor, don't worry!"

Pan Wenmao was an old man who made gunpowder and kept it. He had been doing this job as early as when the Guangning Houtun Guards were still there, and he was very familiar with it.

Yang Zhen saw that he had already thought of this, so he stopped asking any more questions, nodded with a smile and said, "That's good, that's good. The Beicheng ammunition depot is the lifeblood of my army, so there can't be any negligence."

After everyone heard what Yang Zhen said, they all claimed it was true.

At this time, Zhang Degui saw Yang Zhen turning his eyes to the right, and immediately said with a smile: "Captain, the half pull on the right is the place where Wang Shoutang was lifted. The one to the north is the gun range of the ironworks.

Workshops for casting cannons, forging gun tubes, etc. are all there.

"The area to the south is the smelting plant. Now three iron-making furnaces, two lead-smelting furnaces, and one steel-making furnace have been built. The governor also saw that the three small blast furnaces for iron-making have been started.

Ironclad."

Yang Zhen had long noticed the smoking iron furnaces inside the south gate. After hearing what Zhang Degui said, he nodded without saying anything. After a while, he turned to Wang Shoutang on the other side and asked:

"Wang Tiju, you also built a small blast furnace for steelmaking?"

"Hey, Governor, this is a small blast furnace for making steel. In fact, it is the same as the earthen furnace for making iron and lead. It has the same size and the same texture. It's just that the refining method is different!"

"Oh? Why is it different? Tell me!"

"Have the Governor ever heard of Su Gangfa?"

Of course Yang Zhen had heard of Su Gangfa, but when Wang Shoutang suddenly asked, he didn't know whether to say he knew or didn't know.

If you say you know, you are a martial artist, how do you know?

After thinking for a while, Yang Zhen frowned and nodded, and said: "I heard a little bit about it. It is said that it is the steel-making method in Suzhou. The Su steel produced is harder than pig iron, but its toughness is not inferior to that of pig iron."

Wrought iron is the most suitable for forging famous swords, and it is much better than the steel we commonly use in the north!"

Yang Zhen didn't talk about Su Gang's method, but he did talk about Su Gang. As a military general, it was reasonable for him to know this thing.

"Exactly, exactly! The Governor is indeed from a family of generals. He is truly knowledgeable and admirable."

Wang Shoutang heard what Yang Zhen said and learned that he knew something like Su Gang. He first complimented Yang Zhen casually, and then asked enigmatically:

"Then, does the Governor know how this Su Gang was made?"

"I don't know much about this."

Yang Zhen really didn't know much, he only knew roughly that Su Gang's method was very similar to the traditional steel filling method, so he had to honestly admit that he didn't understand it at the moment.

His performance was obviously within Wang Shoutang's expectations.

Seeing him like this, Wang Shoutang immediately laughed, stroking his gray beard on his chin, and said with some satisfaction: "Actually, this Su Gang method is, to put it bluntly, improved from the steel filling method.

"In the past, when we were in Songshan City, there wasn't a lot of wrought iron in the ironworks, which was more valuable. After smelting pig iron, bullet casings were cast in one furnace, and mature iron was fried in another furnace. The wrought iron was fried and then smelted, or used to cast cannons.

, or used to forge steel gun tubes, and there is no remaining iron.

"Now, it's different. The iron bars intercepted by the governor from the grassland before were refined wrought iron. This time I heard that the governor brought back a large number of blunderbuss tubes and wrought iron bars from Zhangjiakou. We have spare power and can directly smelt them.

Steel!"

Having said this, Wang Shoutang stroked his beard and laughed, and for a moment he looked a little radiant.

"In the past, when steel was made hundreds of times, one point of pig iron was lost when it was fried, and then it was forged hundreds of times, and the loss was too great. Why not use more pig iron directly on the flying generals, sky cannons, and tens of thousands of people who are in short supply?

The enemy, on the shell of the blasting canister. Anyway, those things need pig iron that is hard, brittle and easily broken!"

Although Wang Shoutang's words did not directly mention what the Su Steel Method was, when it came to the previous method of forging and refining steel, and then forging blunderbuss tubes, the efficiency was astonishingly low and could not continue like this.

.

Yang Zhen thought of this, nodded to him, and said: "That's true. In the future, labor will be divided again. Pig iron is large in quantity and easy to obtain, so it should be mostly used on those projectile shells. But Lao Wang, the Su Gang method you just mentioned is another

How to make steel directly?

"If we have good steel, we can make barrels and cast cannons, and the efficiency will be much higher! I have been looking forward to this day, but I have been looking forward to it for a long time!"

When Wang Shoutang saw that Yang Zhen really paid attention to it, he immediately laughed and said: "Don't worry, Governor, we didn't do this in the past because the conditions were not met. Now that the conditions are met, if there is no shortage of wrought iron, our steelmaking will not be a problem."

Having said this, Wang Shoutang paused, stroking his beard and thinking for a while, and said: "Actually, the Su Steel Method has nothing special, it is just the steel filling method.

"It's just that the furnace should be built better, the coal used should be better, the bellows used for blowing air should be larger, more, or cleverly set, and the temperature inside the furnace should be higher."

Yang Zhen heard the words "Gangfa" finally pop out of Wang Shoutang's mouth, and nodded involuntarily.

The process of Su Gang method is similar to that of steel filling method, except that the materials used are more sophisticated and all aspects are more refined. Its essence is the steel filling method that has been born for more than a thousand years.

"The governor knows how to pour steel?!"

When Wang Shoutang saw Yang Zhen nodding, he thought he knew the steel filling method. He was stunned and asked quickly.

For blacksmiths like them, who have been blacksmiths for generations, this is a secret that has been passed down from heart to heart. It is the skill that they rely on to make a living, and they will not easily tell outsiders.

But what he didn't know was that this steel filling method was actually recorded in the classics of the past dynasties. After the publication of Tiangong Kaiwu, the whole world knew about it, and it was no secret at all.

It's just that Yang Zhen doesn't want to attack him, and doesn't want to treat his cherished secrets as trash.

Besides, I can’t help but think that these blacksmiths, who have been in the blacksmith family for generations, really have any secrets that are kept secret and not known to outsiders?

So, Yang Zhen shook his head with a smile and said to him: "I only know its name, but I don't know its method. I only know what it is, but I don't know why it is!"

"Haha, the governor is really well-informed. But this method of pouring steel is so popular now that Su Gang has no secrets anymore. The method of pouring steel, the method of pouring steel, the key point is the word "filling" - "

Wang Shoutang smiled awkwardly. Seeing that in addition to Yang Zhen, the commander-in-chief of Jin Hai Bozuo, the people around him were Pan Wenmao and Zhang Degui. He was not worried about being imitated by others, so he immediately continued:

“To make iron in an iron-making furnace, iron ore, coal and charcoal are laid out layer by layer, and then a fire is made to blow the air, and the iron ore is refined with the fire until the molten iron flows out.

"With the steel-filling method, one layer of pig iron and one layer of wrought iron are tied together, covered with coal and charcoal, and then ignited and blown. The pig iron melts first, penetrates into the wrought iron, and merges with each other. When it comes out of the furnace, it is a dough.

steel!

"The obtained steel can be cast or forged. If the hardness is important, it can be cast into a tool and used. If the toughness is important, it can be forged with a little forging. Casting a cannon is not easy to explode, but forging a blunderbuss tube is easier.

It saves the difficulty and complexity of folding the Hundred Refiners, and it is most convenient to use."

Hearing this, Yang Zhen smiled and clapped his hands. The others didn't know what was going on, so they imitated him and clapped along with Yang Zhen.

Although Wang Shoutang didn't know what Yang Zhen was doing, he saw Yang Zhen's excited smile and knew that it was definitely not a bad thing. He immediately smiled and clapped.

"Very good. We should do this from now on! In this way, the shortage of forged gun tubes in your ironworks can be solved in one fell swoop."

Yang Zhen didn't let Wang Shoutang wait for long. After only a moment, he confirmed his ideas and suggestions, and at the same time further said to Wang Shoutang:

"Wang Shen is also here this time and asked him to be responsible for the production of musket tubes. I have an idea here. You and your son can discuss whether it can be used."

"Captain, please speak!"

"That's right, we can use the iron mold method to cast large-caliber artillery, but can we refine the iron mold and use it to directly cast blunderbuss tubes?"

In the past, blunderbuss tubes were made by forging and steel-making, because pig iron has honeycomb bubbles, and it is easy to explode when casting large-caliber gun barrels, let alone using it to cast extremely small-caliber fire blunderbuss tubes.

The three-eyed blunderbuss is such an experimental product. Its power is not much different from that of a firecracker. Using it on the battlefield is not as good as using a mace directly.

However, if there is now pellet steel that is directly made by the steel pouring method, can we not only cast large-caliber artillery but also use the iron mold method to cast the blunderbuss tubes?

Yang Zhen had this somewhat whimsical idea and raised it immediately. At the same time, when he saw Wang Shoutang's look of disbelief, he quickly added:
Chapter completed!