It was getting dark, and Gao Guiying also returned to his yard. Li Lanzhi was depressed. She held her back all day and immediately took Gao Guiying's hand and said, "Mom, can you not be with the person named Li in the future? He brought you everything he did, and he was malicious at all. The little girl hated him."

Gao Guiying had a fever on her cheeks, and Li Xin held her everywhere. In fact, she could refuse, but she didn't, or symbolic rejection. When Li Xin showed a tougher attitude, she accepted it.

She also knew that she was a married woman, and it was unconventional to get along with Li Xinla, but she was resentful!

Two years ago, she was besieged by Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting in Tongguan. Seeing that the general was in desperate situation, she brought the old and weak women and children of the old camp to storm the flags, attracting the main force of the official army to chase him, creating conditions for Li Zicheng to escape into the depths of Shangluo Mountain with the old eight team. She was chased along the way and almost died and survived several times. There were only about twenty soldiers left in nearly a thousand old camps.

But Li Zicheng actually left her and married Miss Wang, which made her feel so nervous. Whenever she hooked up with Li Xin, she would bring her a sense of pleasure in revenge on Li Zicheng.

Moreover, Li Xin is gentle and humorous in his domineering manner. Gao Guiying subconsciously likes to get along with Li Xin.

However, reason told Gao Guiying not to do this. Although she had married two men, they were both formal marriages and were not considered a loss of integrity. She still valued her chastity very seriously. Li Xin has made it clear that she would want her in one or two days, and would be a concubine, which made her feel a sense of humiliation that she was about to lose her virginity. Moreover, she was even more worried that even if she stayed by Li Xin’s side regardless of her face, Li Xin would sooner or later harm Li Lanzhi!

Because Li Xin said more than once that he wanted to take Li Lanzhi as his concubine, even in his joking tone, Gao Guiying dared not be careless. She knew that this person was cruel and ruthless. If Li Lanzhi was older, she could really do it!

‘It’s time to leave!’

Gao Guiying sighed secretly and said, "Lanzhi, let's go to bed early tonight, go out early at night, and open the door and leave as soon as dawn."

Li Lanzhi said happily: "Mom, are you going to Luoyang to find your father-in-chief?"

Gao Guiying thought of Li Xin's warning and shook her head and said, "Your father and coach have married another wife. Don't want us anymore. We go to Nanjing. There are many people there and are very prosperous. We are both men and women, and we are both hands and feet. Being diligent should be able to support ourselves. If your father and coach have a mother in his heart, let him pick us up."

"Um!"

Li Lanzhi is still young and has no intimacy with Li Zicheng because she has not met for many years. She just wants to escape from Li Xin's claws. It doesn't matter where she goes, so she nodded violently!

That night, the mother and daughter had dinner and went to bed. Before dawn, they got up, packed up some clothes and food, and left secretly. Because they lived in the state yamen, they did not dare to go through the door in order to alarm others, but climbed over the wall. Fortunately, Gao Guiying was good at taking Li Lanzhi over the walls and disappeared into the night. However, neither mother and daughter noticed that there were several faint shadows staring behind them.

It was getting darker, and Li Xin and Hong Niang had breakfast and were busy with their own things. Li Xin went to the craftsman camp. The craftsman once told him that he would try to get the firing device of the flintlock rifle within three days, but he encountered trouble and the spring was not good.

"What's going on?"

Li Xin asked.

An old blacksmith named Chen said embarrassedly: "Commander-in-Chief, look, the cast iron is crisp and hard, and it is wrapped around the spring with cast iron, and it breaks in a few strokes. The iron is soft and cannot support the strength of the firing musket. It's not that we don't care, and we really can't do it."

Li Xin asked again: "Where is the steel wire?"

Chen Blacksmith widened his eyes and said with a wry smile: "Commander-in-Chief, don't make things difficult for us. These guys can't make such thin steel wires even if they fight for a day and a night!"

Li Xin understood that although handicrafts in the late Ming Dynasty reached the peak of feudal society, metallurgical technology did not develop simultaneously, and steelmaking was still a method of forging, so it was impossible to make steel wires.

"Master Chen, can you get graphite? It is a black scale or sheet-like object that looks like coal and lead..."

Li Xin introduced the characteristics and uses of graphite in detail, but what disappointed him was that the blacksmiths present shook their heads, then frowned and recalled carefully all the information about graphite.

Graphite was named in 1789. China mined graphite mines in the 1930s. At that time, people really didn't know what graphite was. The nearest graphite mine was located in Nanshu, Qingdao, Shandong. Li Xin's hand was not that long, which made him build a graphite crucible, craft molten steel, and pull out the steel wires from it. However, he had another method, namely ductile iron.

Compared with ordinary cast iron, ductile cast iron has better plasticity and toughness, higher strength than carbon steel, and lower cost than steel. This technology appeared in the 1950s. The principle is very simple. According to the charcoal contained in iron, an appropriate amount of rare earth or magnesium is added to the molten iron, and then ferrosilicon is fostered to precipitate spherical graphite to increase the toughness and strength of the casting.

Rare earths are not necessary to think about. Magnesium comes from the bitter soil in limestone. Mix the bitter soil with charcoal and heat it to reduce the metal magnesium.

It is not complicated to refine ferrosilicon. Coke, steel chips, quartz (or silica) are used as raw materials to treat it. Although coking coal cannot provide enough temperature to melt the steel chips, silicon and oxygen will release a large amount of heat while producing silica and melt the steel chips from the inside.

In modern times, electric furnaces are used to refine ductile iron. Li Xin can only refine it with coke, and the efficiency is definitely very low. But the old saying is that when applied to the military, there is no need to consider the cost. The comprehensive benefits of a big victory cannot be measured by cost.

When making springs with ductile iron, even if they don’t have wire springs, it will not be much different.

"Master Chen, can you get some bitter soil and charcoal? By the way, there is also silica."

Li Xin said again.

"Commander-in-Chief, that old man will give it a try."

Chen Blacksmith responded not very sure, so he ordered a few strong guys to collect the materials.

Limestone is not a rare mineral deposit, and silica is also the most basic material. Li Xin was not afraid of not being able to find it, and he secretly thought about it. The Ming Dynasty cannons had a relatively close range. He didn't like the Red Cannon or the Folang machine cannon. The key is that the material is not good. If there is ductile iron, better cannons can be cast.

The first choice is naturally the Napoleon gun. This gun has fierce firepower and is extremely simple to manufacture and use. It can fire a variety of shells. Because of its special gun stand, it will basically not displace when fired. It saves the time to reset and improves the accuracy. Its effective range can exceed one kilometer. It is a very practical field gun.

However, Napoleon cannons were cast from bronze. China has lacked copper since ancient times, so Li Xin planned to cast new cannons with ductile iron with significantly improved toughness and strength.

"Come on, everyone comes here. I have a new method of casting a new cannon. If it can be cast, the host will count on the third-class merit once and the participants will count on the fourth-class merit. Let me tell you now."

Li Xin waved his hand. After the blacksmiths surrounded him, he explained in detail the key points of the casting of Napoleon cannon in combination with the drawings. The craftsmen did not dare to neglect them. Based on their experience in casting, they listened carefully and asked questions from time to time. Li Xin answered patiently.

Of course, if you want to cast Napoleon cannons, the prerequisite is to cast ductile iron.

Near noon, Erju rushed over.

"Commander-in-Chief, brothers, according to your arrangement, squatted near Mrs. Gao's residence. Sure enough, before dawn in the morning, Mrs. Gao sneaked away with her lady and opened the door early in the morning and left the south gate..."

Erfu clings to his ears and whispers.

"Oh? This old lady is just restless!"

Li Xin smiled strangely.

Erju said again: "Brothers are watching. Mrs. Gao is heading towards Yangzhou. Should I send someone to intercept me?"

Li Xin waved his hand: "No, I will go to pick up Sister Guiying in person in a while. You are waiting aside. I will finish the last time and leave."

"Get orders!"
Chapter completed!