Tian Jiapeng's eyes were bloodshot. He had only rested for four hours a day for more than ten days.
The remaining time is spent researching tool steel for milling machines.
The steel produced in a blast furnace is of better quality and has a larger output than the steel produced in a graphite crucible.
But it is these benefits of blast furnace steelmaking that lead to many machines being made of steel.
Not only the milling machine he is working on, but also the tool steel used in ordinary machine tools, there is no way to process steel.
If they cannot find a steel material that can be used for machine tools, their machinery industry will regress to the iron age.
After Tian Jiapeng discovered the microscope, he tried to use it to observe, and Lu Jin smelted the only batch of tool steel.
Lu Jin developed special steel that can process other steel materials, but in a furnace of normal steel, there are seven and a half kilograms of special steel.
They tried many times afterwards, but failed to smelt special steel.
Tian Jiapeng used a microscope to compare special steel and ordinary steel and found a slight difference.
However, microscopes do not play a big role in the field of metal smelting.
Tian Jiapeng kept looking at the furnace of special high-grade steel smelted by Lu Jin.
In this process, what is the difference between it and other steel smelting?
But he never found the difference. No matter how he looked at it, these records were almost the same.
The milling machine designed by Tian Jiapeng made it very easy to carve the rifling of rifled guns.
The carving speed of the machine tool is very fast and the accuracy is amazing.
There is no need for skilled craftsmen such as grade 8 or 9 workers.
Even an apprentice craftsman, after a period of training, can skillfully use a milling machine to add rifling to a rifle gun.
However, the strength of the tool steel does not meet the requirements. After processing two or three barrels, the machine tool head will wear out.
Lu Jin saw Tian Jiapeng using a microscope to continue observing the steel structure.
He kept drawing on paper and pen what he saw through the microscope. There were many steel structures on the paper.
"How could this happen? Is there any gain?
They look almost the same under a microscope.
Why are the properties of these two kinds of steel so different for similar materials?"
When Tian Jiapeng heard Lu Jin's question, he shook his head and had no idea now.
…………………………
Su He received a report from the security guard around Tian Jiapeng that he was working on antibiotics, so he took the time to meet Tian Jiapeng.
Rifled guns are too important. In order of importance, rifled guns are more important than antibiotics.
Rifled guns can determine the fundamental issue of Suhe's victory in the battle with the Ming Dynasty.
Antibiotics are just the icing on the cake and can save more soldiers’ lives.
Su He asked Tian Jiapeng to lead the scientific research team to tackle the rifled gun.
It’s just that there are the most talents in mechanical processing and metallurgy.
Tian Jiapeng and the others haven't received any good news yet, so they probably haven't made a major breakthrough yet.
Su He couldn't wait any longer. With these people, sooner or later, he would be able to conquer the technology of rifled guns.
He originally trained the team and did not want to encourage it by himself.
After hearing the news reported by Su Changsheng, Su He couldn't sit still.
He took care of the government and military affairs and went directly to the Institute of Guns and Artillery of the Academy of Sciences.
Su He saw Tian Jiapeng's eyes were red and he looked tired.
He looked at the guard standing next to Tian Jiapeng and scolded: "I'm not telling you what to do.
If Tian Jiapeng doesn't go to sleep, you will forcefully carry him away and also carry him to the bed to sleep.
Scientific research is not something that happens overnight.
It requires accumulation and even more luck.
Staying up late for a long time and being tired can easily lead to death from overwork.
Without a good body, you cannot persevere in scientific research, which will waste your talent."
Tian Jiapeng's face turned slightly red and he whispered: "Your Highness King Qin, the guards have taken me away and asked me to go back to sleep.
But I couldn’t sleep even when I was lying in bed thinking about these things.”
"What kind of problems have you encountered? Tell me." Su He asked Tian Jiapeng.
His current grasp of knowledge is no longer as good as Tian Jiapeng's.
But in terms of knowledge, Tian Jiapeng was far behind Su He.
Tian Jiapeng and Lu Jin respectively talked about the difficulties they encountered.
Under the guidance of Wei Shiming, the Coal and Steel Company made technical reserves for a long time.
The blast furnace ironmaking technology has matured, so they launched a challenge to the blast furnace steelmaking technology.
After a long period of technical reserves and a little bit of luck.
Not long ago, Wei Shiming had made a breakthrough in blast furnace steelmaking technology.
The steel produced in small blast furnaces is now comparable to the crucible steel produced in graphite crucibles.
Because of this achievement, Su He held a medal ceremony specifically for Wei Shiming's team.
Even if they didn't catch up, the last large-scale medal ceremony did not make them wait for the next one.
Wei Shiming was named Tieshanhou, and many craftsmen in his team were named nobles.
Wei Shiming directly passed the title of Township Marquis, and he was granted the title of County Marquis.
Newspapers reported this incident, which caused great repercussions at the time.
People generally believe that being a craftsman is easy to get a title, so many families choose to send their children to be apprentices in factories.
The rifled gun uses ordinary iron materials, and there is no problem in processing the rifled gun with a milling machine.
Firearms expert Du Kangjie, after he trial-produced an iron rifled gun.
He asked a very pointed question.
When using an iron-processed rifled gun, the rifling inside the rifled gun is very easy to wear.
They have done tests to simulate intense combat situations.
After a month of use of a rifled gun, the rifling will wear out and it will lose its accuracy and range.
The service life of rifled guns is too short and the cost is very high.
If we can only achieve this effect, we might as well continue to make flintlock guns.
Tian Jiapeng and others agreed that steel should be used.
Only hard and wear-resistant steel can extend the service life of a rifled gun.
After selecting the material for the rifled gun, they found that the steel barrel worked very well.
But it is very difficult to process.
The boring machine can use multiple drill bits to drill the gun barrel.
Milling machines that process rifling cannot.
During the rifling process, if there is a problem with the tool, the entire barrel will be scrapped.
By chance, Lu Jin produced a small amount of extremely hard steel.
They serve as the cutting heads of machine tools and can easily process steel gun barrels.
They used these machine tools to process a large number of barrels for rifled guns.
The ratio of steel barrels to iron barrels, both in terms of service life and accuracy and range.
Steel barrels are far superior to iron barrels.
They wanted to mass-produce rifled guns so that the rifled guns could achieve the desired effect.
Then we must find the furnace of steel that Lu Jin accidentally smelted.
Tian Jiapeng tried many methods, but all failed.
He is looking through the microscope to find the difference between this special steel and other steels.
He has been studying it for so long and now he still has no clue.
Su He listened to Tian Jiapeng and Lu Jin's stories.
He basically understood the problems these two people encountered.
There is no way to process ordinary steel. Their hardness is almost the same, and the processing loss will be huge.
The cutting tools used in machine tools are generally made of special alloy steel.
Based on what Tian Jiapeng and Lu Jin said, Su He believed that the steel refined by Lu Jin contained a little bit of manganese.
For alloy steel cutting tools, manganese steel is a less technically difficult choice. Their current technology can produce manganese steel.
Pyrolusite is a common mineral, and some pyrolusite is doped in iron ore.
The main component of pyrolusite is manganese dioxide, which can be reduced to manganese by coke.
When a small amount of manganese penetrates into the steel, the steel becomes manganese steel.
The furnace steel that Lu Jin found was probably all manganese steel.
Only that small portion of manganese has the best proportion to show the characteristics of manganese steel.
Through this coincidental method, the properties of the manganese steel produced will not be very good.
But manganese steel, which is of lower quality, is also harder than ordinary steel.
If the formula of manganese steel can be researched, the effect of refining alloy steel will be even better.
Su He thought of this and asked, "Lu Jin, did you have detailed records of the minerals when you smelted this furnace of steel?"
When Lu Jin heard Su He's question, he quickly replied: "Your Highness, King Qin, our steel company wants to record the properties of steel and hold people accountable.
Every time a furnace is opened, raw materials are recorded in detail.
The steelmaking records were very clear, and we reviewed them many times afterwards."
"Lu Jin, since you remember it so clearly, it will be easy to handle.
According to the raw material records you have seen, are there any unusual impurities mixed into the iron ore?
For example, in the form of lumps or powdery aggregates.
Its color is steel gray or black, the stripes are blue-black or black, and it has a metallic luster."
When Lu Jin heard Su He's question, he closed his eyes and thought about it carefully.
"His Royal Highness King Qin, you are so amazing.
I remember there was such a short passage in the record.
Iron ore is contaminated with some black metal powder.
Workers also removed these impurities, leaving only a small amount of black metal powder, which cannot be removed.
Could it be that this steel is harder than other steels? The problem lies in these black metal powders."
Su He nodded and said, "Yes, this kind of thing is called pyrolusite.
It is the same as iron ore and is also a metallic mineral.
Doping a little bit of this metal manganese into steel will improve the properties of the steel a lot.
Manganese steel is most suitable for cutting tools of various machine tools.”
Su He briefly gave Tian Jiapeng and Lu Jin some knowledge about alloys.
After hearing this, Tian Jiapeng said excitedly: "It turned out to be like this. I thought the structure of metal was different.
Observe with a microscope to find changes in the metal structure.
It turns out that their properties are different because they are doped with other metals.
I should have consulted His Highness the King of Qin a long time ago, so that I would not take many detours."
Su He saw Tian Jiapeng and Lu Jin looking anxious.
He ordered: "Go quickly and find the soft ore I mentioned, and try to make a furnace of steel.
If we don’t get the manganese steel out, I guess you won’t be able to sleep today.”
When Tian Jiapeng and Lu Jin heard what Su He said, they said goodbye and left, rushing to the coal mining company to prepare a furnace of manganese steel.
…………………………
Tian Jiapeng came to the Prince of Qin's Mansion to find Su He with a gun and a surprised look on his face.
After numerous checks, he entered the Wuying Hall of Prince Qin's Mansion with a rifle and accompanied by guards.
Su He, along with Li Fengming, chief of staff of the General Staff Department, and Qin Shanshui, the famous sharpshooter of the guard regiment, were waiting here for Tian Jiapeng's arrival.
He has received news that the arsenal's rifled gun production lines have all used steel.
The rifled gun that has been painstakingly researched for a long time has finally entered mass production.
After Tian Jiapeng entered, he immediately handed the rifle to the guards around him, and they took it to Su He.
"Your Highness King Qin, under your guidance, we have figured out the formula and production process of manganese steel.
Together we smelted more than fifty furnaces of manganese steel formulas with different proportions.
Finally, we found a more suitable formula of manganese steel. This kind of manganese steel is hard and wear-resistant, making it a very good tool steel.
Now all the cutting heads of machine tools are made of this kind of manganese steel, which can process steel smelted in blast furnaces.
We have improved the production line of rifled guns, and the arsenal has begun mass production of rifled guns.
This was the first rifled gun manufactured on the new production line.
Please give His Highness the King of Qin a name for this gun."
Su He took over the rifled gun that had just been produced from the production line from the guard.
Previous rifled guns were only produced manually on a small scale.
The rifled gun in his hand is a mass-produced model, and it represents a completely different meaning.
The mass production of rifled guns means that the number of rifled guns can reach a certain scale and can be installed by all armies.
Su He looked at the rifled gun carefully. With the accumulation of firearms manufacturing experience, the rifled gun also made some improvements.
The hardwood behind the rifled gun appears smoother and has a good grip.
A safety lock is also added above the trigger of the rifled gun.
A new sight is added to the muzzle of the rifled gun to make it easier for soldiers to aim.
Smoothbore muskets have no accuracy. They rely on large-scale bullets to kill the enemy.
Rifled guns have rifling and have high accuracy, so the front sight is useful.
The bayonet of the rifled gun was also significantly modified.
The bayonet is still a three-edged bayonet, but the material is changed to steel, making it sharper.
Su He looked at the bluish bayonet. After quenching, this mass-produced bayonet was harder and sharper than the hundred-melted steel forged by traditional methods.
With the advancement of mechanical processing, the bayonet does not need to be installed on the muzzle.
The bayonet is mounted directly below the muzzle.
The blade of the bayonet can be moved forward or backward. Backward is for retracting the bayonet, and forward is for attack.
Attach a bayonet and the musket becomes a spear.
The bayonet is installed under the muzzle of the gun. When using the bayonet, it will not affect the soldier's continued shooting.
This kind of bayonet is truly highly practical.
Su He picked up the tools on the table and measured the basic data of the rifled gun.
The whole gun is 1.5 meters long and weighs 10 kilograms.
The caliber of the rifled gun is 18mm, and the standard ammunition is 33g lead bullet.
Su He looked at the rifled gun in his hand and said:
"It is now Kaiyuan 4328, and this rifled gun is officially named Type 28 rifle."
Su He handed the Type 28 rifle to Qin Shanshui.
"Captain Qin, come and give it a try. How do you like this gun?"
Qin Shanshui took the gun with both hands and carried the Type 28 rifle on his back.
He touched the new rifle with his hand.
The unique texture of steel is much better than iron.
A group of them arrived at the small shooting range located on the west side of the palace.
This place is the training ground for the Women's Guard Corps.
Qin Shanshui came to the training ground and saw that ammunition had been prepared.
This ammunition is different from the rifled gun ammunition he used before.
The new type of ammunition is still lead bullets, but its shape has changed, becoming a cylindrical shape very much like a blooming bullet.
The bottom of the lead bullet is hollow, with a cork plugged in the middle.
The lead bullet body is engraved with circles of threads, and the threads are coated with grease.
The gunpowder did not change, but the packaging of the gunpowder was changed from paper to the same gauze as the artillery.
Qin Shanshui put the ammunition package into the gun chamber from the muzzle first.
The process of placing the ammunition went smoothly. He thought he needed to poke it before he could get down. Unexpectedly, the ammunition bag was designed very cleverly and he slipped down by himself.
He picked up a new lead bullet and placed it on the muzzle of the gun. He found that the size of the lead bullet was just a little smaller than the muzzle of the gun.
With the cork end of the lead bullet pointing downward, put the lead bullet directly into the gun chamber smoothly.
Qin Shanshui picked up the bamboo tube of gunpowder and poured some gunpowder on the fire door.
The gunpowder currently used in the military has also been classified.
Qin Shanshui heard that the properties of gunpowder are different depending on the nitrate content.
Nowadays, the military has divided into different types of gunpowder such as propellant for guns, igniting powder for guns, propellant for guns, blasting powder, and fuze powder.
He does not need to understand the manufacture of these gunpowders.
You only need to know the properties of this kind of gunpowder so that there will be no mistakes in daily use.
He raised his rifle, took aim - and fired.
This rifle feels good in the hand and doesn't have a lot of recoil when fired.
What surprised Qin Shanshui the most was that the ballistics of this rifle were more accurate. It was many times more accurate than the rifled gun used before.
While Su He and others were testing the gun in Qinshanshui, they chatted.
Li Fengming looked at the long-range and accurate rifle and sighed:
"The rifled gun can become a practical weapon, and His Highness King Qin's exquisite invention is absolutely indispensable.
The rifled gun was just an experimental weapon at the beginning.
It has just been processed. The main problem is that due to the rifling, it is difficult for the front-loaded lead bullet to maintain the air-locking properties of the barrel, and its power is greatly reduced.
In order to achieve good air-holding properties, the caliber of lead bullets for rifled guns is often the same as or even slightly larger than the caliber of the gun.
Loading was extremely laborious, and due to tolerances, some lead bullets simply could not be pushed into the barrel.
It is often necessary to use a hammer to hit the ramrod in order to push the lead bullet into place, which often results in a more dangerous bore rupture.
When lead bullets are pushed to the location of the medicine chamber, they are often deformed due to rough operation and fail to achieve the killing effect.
At that time, we believed that rifled guns were completely impractical, and we were ready to give up the development of rifled guns and explore more powerful smoothbore guns.
His Highness the King of Qin used an ingenious method to directly make the bottom of the lead bullet hollow.
The bottom of the lead bullet is trumpet-shaped.
When shooting, the bottom of the lead bullet naturally expands under the action of gunpowder, which ensures the airtightness of the rifled gun.
After the soldiers' suggestions, the craftsmen improved the lead bullets of the rifled guns many times, but they never departed from this idea."
Tian Jiapeng also echoed: "It turns out that this structure was invented by His Highness King Qin.
This structure can effectively utilize the advantages of rifled guns and avoid the shortcomings of rifled guns.
It looks like it's been tried and tested and custom-made for rifled guns.
I asked the craftsmen in the arsenal to test it.
The rifling of the steel barrel is resistant to wear, and it takes a long time for lead bullets to smooth out the rifling in the barrel.
Its biggest weakness has been solved by steel.
Rifled guns have better performance than smoothbore guns.
If it cannot be used due to ammunition problems, then you will really miss this good gun."
Su He watched the two men boasting about themselves without leaving any trace.
He waved his hand and said modestly: "This is not something I thought of. It was a man named Mini who thought of this method.
I'm just a porter, just picking up people's teeth."
After hearing this, Li Fengming and Tian Jiapeng just looked at each other and smiled.
His Highness the King of Qin is being humble again. He usually talks about many characters, but no one can find these characters, as if they don't exist.
When Tian Jiapeng was learning calculus, His Highness King Qin said that calculus was proposed by Newton.
He read all official and unofficial history, and even foreign history.
I haven't even found Newton.
He found the most advanced mathematical knowledge in the West, and there was no sign of calculus at all.
Mathematical tools like calculus, once someone masters them.
It will be used in every corner of society. Even if some forces want to hide it, they cannot hide it.
He solved the volume formula of a complex sphere through calculus.
The optimal shape of the blooming bullet was calculated to allow the blooming bullet to hold the most gunpowder.
Tian Jiapeng felt that His Highness King Qin was being humble, and the people around him were already accustomed to His Highness King Qin's behavior.
If something goes wrong, just make up a character and blame this character for your achievements.
Su He watched Qin Shanshui keep firing his gun, hitting very far targets.
The rifled gun in use today is the Mini gun that was very mature in later history.
The Minigun was born at the wrong time. Because the muzzle-loading rifled gun was difficult to load, the rifled gun was shelved.
Mini invented the Mini bomb. At that time, the chemical industry and mechanical processing were already very mature.
As soon as the minigun became famous, it was completely replaced by breech-loading rifled guns.
The breech-loading rifle that combines metal cartridge cases and flash caps is already the pinnacle of firearms.
As long as gunpowder and metal bullets are used, there is no way to get rid of this structure.
Suhe installed muskets in the front, before a large-scale army was deployed.
The first step was to develop a front-loading rifled gun, which would have crushing firepower.
The Ming Dynasty has also begun to pay attention to muskets. Due to lack of money and other reasons, the scale of musket installation is not very large compared to the Ming army.
However, due to the Ming Dynasty's powerful size, muskets will gradually be installed in each servant's army.
In absolute numbers, the number of Ming musketeers is likely to exceed that of the soldiers of the Qin Palace.
Let this trend develop and there will be no gap in weapons.
Suhe only occupies such a small amount of territory, and the only slightly richer territory is Sichuan.
It is very likely that it will not be able to stop the Ming Dynasty's continuous attacks.
He had already received a report from Su Changsheng. The secret agent used flying pigeons to deliver messages from as far away as the capital to Hanzhong.
Emperor Chongzhen has issued an edict and decided to mobilize the elite troops and horses of the Ming Dynasty, even removing most of the Guan Ning cavalry, to encircle and suppress them on a large scale.
Suhe captured Sichuan, and Emperor Chongzhen also realized the danger of Suhe and began to prepare to attack them with all his strength.
He knew that the advantage of Prince Qin's Mansion was to gain advantage through the difference in firearms.
This is also the reason why Su He has been urging rifle rifles.
Now that rifled guns are in mass production, this war will become much easier.
Qin Shanshui walked to Su He with a rifle on his back and a happy face.
He had finished shooting all the ammunition and understood the condition of the rifle.
The biggest advantages of rifled guns are accuracy and range.
The rifled gun can accurately hit the enemy within a distance of 500 meters.
Its maximum range is nine hundred meters, but at this distance, there is no way to hit it accurately.
Qin Shanshui has been attending the military academy during this period, and he is no longer an ignorant hunter.
The successful mass production of a rifled gun with an effective range of 500 meters will have a great impact on the military.
This will change the tactics of the entire army.
The current tactic of queuing to kill is no longer appropriate.
The range of an ordinary bow and arrow is only about 200 meters.
The Mongolian army's cavalry archers were proficient in mounted archery, but the range of their powerful bows was only three to four hundred meters.
The rifled gun has a range of 900 meters, so it has no fear of the enemy's light cavalry.
Qin Shanshui carefully reported the rifle data.
Su He smiled with a smile on his face after hearing this. He turned to look at Li Fengming and ordered: "Mr. Li, please cooperate with the guard regiment and the Guards Division.
A new drill for infantry has been developed. The previous combat methods are no longer suitable for an army equipped with field guns."
Su He obtained the rifled gun data, and he was completely reassured about the upcoming war.