A huge cave nearly ten meters deep is connected in sequence by seven sections of "outer fan", shaped like a seven-level pagoda.
The production of the "inner model" of the big bell took the longest time. First, the most famous calligrapher in the world was asked to copy all the scriptures and the bell preface written by Zhu Di himself, as well as the Twelve Great Wishes on paper.
The craftsmen then designed the scraper mold according to the radius and thickness of the different sections of the bell body, evenly coated it with fine mud, and pasted the rice paper with the scriptures written on it onto the fine mud layer, creating nearly 230,000 words of scripture.
Carve the Yin characters one by one, and then heat the template and bake it into a pottery mold.
The "outer frame" of the big bell is huge because of the huge body. The clay mold is divided into seven sections. After molding, it is dried in the shade at low temperature, baked into pottery, and then spliced. The entire splicing process must be seamless, even if there is a slight gap or a centimeter difference.
, will cause "fire" and lead to casting failure.
The entire cave wall around the "outer fan" was compacted layer by layer with plant ash and Sanhe soil. Otherwise, it would not be able to withstand the strong pressure generated in the process of casting such a giant bell.
Today is the trial casting. First, cast a bell that is exactly the same as the Yongle Bell. The only difference is that there will be no scriptures on the inner wall of this bell, because the one that takes the longest to make and uses the most effort is full of scriptures.
Once the casting fails, the "inner model" will be destroyed, so it will not be used in trial casting.
There are four casting openings in total on the giant pit. Four long clay troughs extend all the way to the heights, connecting dozens of furnaces together. The fire is raging, and the heat wave rising from the furnaces causes the sky above the bell foundry to rise.
The air in the sky is distorted, and when you look up at the clouds in the sky, you will feel like you are looking at the reflection in the water.
Under the furnace, countless craftsmen are adding coal to the furnace, and others are blowing air into the furnace desperately to ensure that the temperature of the furnace is always maintained at the highest level. The craftsmen are running around nervously, working in a hurry.
Final preparations before starting the furnace.
The contents of various metal components such as gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, silicon, and magnesium added to the dozens of furnaces that were led to the four casting troughs were exactly the same, and the initial weighing was accurate.
When it comes to the standard of "money", for a huge bell weighing 46 tons, the metal composition in each furnace is actually accurate to one pound, one tael, and one penny.
The emperor, his relatives, and all the civil and military officials stood on the tower of Deshengmen in the distance, watching the heat wave rising, and watching the countless people working nervously around the dozens of blast furnaces.
Although today is a trial casting, everyone is very nervous. This is an unprecedented giant bell. There is no ready-made experience to follow in all aspects of smelting and casting. If this trial casting fails, we must carefully study the defects of each link and explore from scratch.
, then I don’t know how long we have to wait. If the trial casting is successful, the real Yongle Bell can naturally come out at any time.
"The furnace is on!"
A loud shout suddenly rang out on the busy but unusually quiet construction site, and a large flag from a high place came down with a clang. Dozens of furnaces were turned on at the same time, a heat wave swept through the night, the fire was flowing with gold, and the iron was boiling.
Zhu Di took a few steps forward involuntarily, stood holding on to the wall and watched with bated breath.
Zhu Gaosui, Zhu Zhanji, Xia Xun, Ji Gang and others also rushed forward in unison. Song Li, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, tightened his face and looked at the deep pit for a moment.
The fire was pure green, the flames soared into the sky, gold flowers splashed, copper juice surged, and floods of metal rushed in from the melting furnaces. Injecting the long horizontal lines of clay, I saw four shocking red torrents rolling towards the deep pit.
…
The molds inside and outside the pit were preheated at high temperature at the same time. When the tens of millions of dendrobium gold soup filled with the furnace rushed forward and poured into the pit, this huge bell was cast in one go. The estimate of the gold liquid was very accurate, worthy of
It can be filled with mud, and the gold liquid overflows slightly, and there is no more gold liquid flowing in dozens of melting furnaces.
On the city wall, many court officials couldn't help cheering, but the dark face of Song Li, the minister of industry, was still bluffing, staring nervously ahead, showing no sign of joy. Soon, others noticed Song Li's appearance
, we will know whether the casting is successful. It is too early to say at this time, and I can’t help but become nervous.
In the first step of casting, there was no explosion or misfire, which is certainly a great success. However, it is too early to say whether a large bell has been cast. The subsequent cooling process is also a critical step.
Now there is a ball of unextinguished ground fire and flames in the mud chamber. The cooling rate must be strictly controlled to prevent the bell from exploding. The world-famous Russian bell cast in the 18th century became a problem because of a problem with the cooling process.
A dumb clock that can only read but not ring.
At this time, the pit where the Yongle Bell was born was still a completely natural automatic cooling system, which was technically more difficult. Craftsmen must always pay attention to the cooling process of the bell and take some measures at any time to slow down the cooling rate of the bell or increase the cooling rate of the bell.
clock cooling rate.
This process was very long, and all the craftsmen were busy nervously. Song Li watched nervously for a long time, until a craftsman came to him and whispered something, then he took a long breath and walked to Zhu Di.
Next to him, he cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, please go to the tower to drink tea and rest for a while. There should be no problem with the big bell cooling down. Now, we just have to wait for the bell body to cool down completely and test its sound!"
Zhu Di nodded, suppressed his nervousness, and returned to the tower.
All the ministers were given seats, and tea and snacks were served. Everyone ate, talked about random topics, and waited for the big clock to cool down. Everyone's nervousness eased a little, but the results of the last step of testing the sound were not yet known. Everyone's
My heart is still hanging on.
If it is an ordinary bell and the chime is deviated, it does not matter as long as it is not too outrageous. It can be tuned by polishing, scraping and other methods after the bell is cast. And this huge bell is filled with scriptures, and polishing and scraping will inevitably
It destroys the scriptures, so it must be formed at one time. In this case, if the tone is not beautiful enough and the bell is not loud enough, then it cannot be adjusted later and it will only become a useless bell.
After a long time, the craftsman rushed in again to report that the bell body had completely cooled down.
The emperor and the ministers walked out of the tower one after another. Huge brackets had been erected around the huge pit. Eight giant pillars supported a trapezoidal frame. Dozens of iron ropes hung from the rack to tie the bell buttons.
, there were more than ten horses tied to each iron chain. Seeing the emperor appear at the top of the city, someone whipped and shouted, more than a hundred horses rushed out at the same time, and the huge bell with the clay mold removed jumped into the sky with a bang.
The giant bell slowly rose from the bottom of the pit. The giant bell, which had taken off its clay mold, had a dignified sheen of metal all over its body. It was thick and simple, and even its slight shaking seemed to have a huge force.
Song Li swallowed nervously and turned to look at Zhu Di. Zhu Di stared intently at the huge bell. After a long time, he waved his hand heavily and said decisively: "Strike the bell!"
"When~~"
There was a roar, and the melodious bells suddenly spread to the heaven and earth.
Suddenly, all the sounds stopped, and everyone held their breath to listen to the bell. The deep buzzing sound carried a solemn and sacred atmosphere for a long time.
The sound of the bell flew into the sky and poured into the nine cities, shaking everyone's heart. Gradually, everyone's face was filled with smiles.
Xia Xun secretly calculated that after this collision, the bell continued to ring for three minutes.
The sound of the bell gradually weakened, and Zhu Di suddenly burst into laughter. His laughter became louder and louder. All civil and military officials bowed down and said in unison: "God bless the Ming Dynasty, congratulations to the emperor!"
Zhu Di laughed loudly, waved his big hand, and said happily: "Reward! All those who participated in the bell casting will be greatly rewarded!"
At this moment, Mu En climbed up the city wall like a groundhog awakened by the sound of a bell, and looked here...
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
Zhu Di looked at the thing in his hand, and the more he looked at it, the angrier he became, because the joy brought by the success of casting the bell had been swept away.
Investigation at the East Jiji Factory: When Ji Gang's confidant Ji Younan was appointed as the Fusi of Nanzhen, he was ordered by Ji Gang to intercept a large number of new-style firecrackers and weapons and armor, and hid them in Ji Gang's private house. The Jinyiwei commanded the Jinshi Saihazhi, and the Jinyiwei Nanzhen Fushi Liu Yujue attached
Shang Ji Gang obtained weapons and armor records and witness lists from the Ordnance Bureau.
According to the Dongjishi Factory, salt merchants in Lianghuai Salt Fields, Anfeng Salt Fields, Shangji Salt Fields and other places filed a complaint: Shen Wendu, a member of the Ji Gang Party Committee, took the salt from the salt fields with the Ji Gang Jiaozhao, and demanded excessive amounts of salt. Over the past few years, he had demanded salt worth hundreds of millions.
Pan Qinian and others from the Lianghuai Salt Farm are attached as witnesses, as well as a copy of the Discipline and Correctional Edict.
Dongji Shichang's investigation: In regular years, Ji Gang took advantage of his power to requisition water transport ships without authorization to transport private goods for him, and the proceeds went into his own pocket. Chen Xuan, the governor of water transport in the Ming Dynasty, attached personal and physical evidence.
Dongji Shichang's investigation: Ji Gang Ji was used to picket hundreds of officials and investigate rebellion, frame up, and extort hundreds of wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan. As for raiding private merchants and seizing people's property, there are countless cases. Huang Zhen, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, verified that it was true, and the victims were also included.
Personal and physical evidence of wealthy businessmen.
According to the Dongji Shichang: Governor Xue Lu took a concubine. When Ji Gang saw the beauty of the woman, he wanted to take it away. He was very angry. He met Xue Lu by chance in the palace and actually beat him, causing Governor Xue to have a split brain and almost die. So far, he has left
Hidden illness.
Governor Xue Lu, whose official position was above Ji Gang, was the hero of the Jingnan War, but he was afraid of Ji Gang's authority, so he had to swallow his anger. There were many civil and military officials in the court who were insulted and oppressed by Ji Gang, many like Xue Lu, who dared to get angry but dared not speak out.
According to the Dong Ji Shi Factory investigation: Ji Gang was in charge of the palace talent show, and secretly intercepted the girls from the talent show, and brought them into his private house for enjoyment. She is now Ji Gang's concubine.
According to the Dongjishi Factory, Ji Gang castrated more than a hundred young children from good families and put them into the back house to serve the family members, performing the same rituals as the emperor, overstepping their bounds, and being disrespectful!
Checked by Dongjishi Factory:...
As Zhu Di watched, his hands couldn't help but tremble. His face became tighter and tighter, and his face became greener and greener, like the color of gold and iron emitted by the trial-cast bell.
Falsely conveying imperial edicts, keeping eunuchs, intercepting beautiful women, oppressing ministers... Why? Why? I trust him so much, why can he... be so lawless! In his eyes, who am I?
One by one, each one was like a slap on Zhu Di's face!
Zhu Di never expected that the person he had always trusted and protected could be so lawless, but he was unaware of it and always regarded Ji Gang as an available minister who could be infinitely trusted.
At this moment, in his heart there was not only anger and sadness, but also the blinded shame and endless annoyance!
All along, in Zhu Di's mind, Ji Gang may have been too keen on utilitarianism, but how can there be a perfect person in the world?
In his mind, Ji Gang has always been the most well-behaved, obedient, and considerate of his courtiers. Although Ji Gang is not as good as Xie Jin's literary talent, not as good as Yang Rong's political ability, not as good as Zhang Fu's military exploits, not as good as Xia Xun's talent and strategy,
But he is the best at understanding the will of God and obeys orders completely!
Unexpectedly, what I thought was a loyal guard dog turned out to be an unfamiliar white-eyed wolf!
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Zhu Di laughed sadly and indignantly, and then hit the imperial case hard like a heavy iron fist: "Bang!"
Zhu Di's eyes were red and he roared sternly: "Ji Gang, you thief, how dare you bully me like this!"
To be continued...