Zuo Menggeng is like the lion king who has returned from a long absence.
The first thing I do when I come back is to take a good look around my territory to see if there is anything wrong.
After watching The Garment Factory, I watched Zhuangzi, and after watching The School, I watched the refugees from Zunhua.
There were more than 13,000 refugees in total, but by the time they arrived in Linqing, only a little over 10,000 were left.
Some broke away from the team to join relatives on the way, and some died of illness or cold on the way.
Those who survived entered a new life and quickly found the motivation for life in Linqing.
Having experienced hardship, life and death at the same time, they understand better how difficult it is to live a good life. When the new army recruited soldiers, most of them signed up.
Unfortunately, only two-tenths of them are qualified.
The factory is the place that Zuo Mengeng is obsessed with, especially the gun-making factory and the cannon-making factory.
Not only Zuo Mengeng came, but basically all the officers came.
Weapons have experienced actual combat and there are problems that need to be corrected. The military, as users of actual combat, is the one with the most say.
Tu Yixian, Bi Maokang and other weapons institute directors and officers gathered together for exchanges and summaries.
"The problem with the muskets is mainly on the bullets. The glue you use is too strong. Many times after the soldiers pulled out the bullets, the glue still stuck to the paper shells, making it difficult to pour out the gunpowder."
The questions were not raised randomly by everyone, but Huang Zongxi summarized the questions and passed them to the Weapons Institute on behalf of everyone.
Today's meeting, Li Banghua, Huang Daozhou, Dang Huanchun, Qu Shichun and Zhang Jimeng all came to observe.
They will obviously take the administrative route in the future, but it does not have anything to do with the military. Especially on the road to future expansion, the military and government will inevitably need to cooperate with each other.
In other words, at some point, those of them who hold pens will also have to hold guns.
However, they are all very new to the New Army's meeting model.
After observing it for a while, I discovered the benefits.
First of all, everyone can speak freely and freely without blocking the flow of speech.
Secondly, during the communication process, everyone's focus is only on work. Even if there are quarrels, they are all about the issue and not the person, and there will be no personal attacks.
Finally, this kind of meeting is very efficient. Any problems can be expressed clearly on the spot, which will also increase the priority of problem solving.
It's not like the imperial court at all. Once the memorial is sent, only the gods know when it will be seen by the emperor.
When the military suggested that glue affected shooting efficiency, Bi Maokang immediately asked his assistant to record it.
"After we go back, we will form a special team to see if we can improve the glue."
Zuo Mengeng also spoke.
"Next, we will also develop our artillery to see if we can cover the barrel so that the shell can be inserted through the breech. The artillery brigade responded that the open barrel will cause the cartridge to be ejected by a violent explosion."
Tu Yi refused to agree at first.
"At present, the cartridge cannot be made into a standard round shape, and the production of flash caps cannot keep up. If the shell is inserted from the breech block, the ignition method cannot be solved."
He didn't just veto it. It seemed that during the experiment, the artillery factory also thought of this issue.
"Come on, ladies and gentlemen, what do you think if we add a folding cover to the barrel?"
Looking at the drawings drawn by Tu Yi, everyone studied it and found that this is the best method among the current methods.
In addition to the transformation of Zuoying cannon, Zuo Menggeng also raised new topics.
"In this battle, there is another problem that has to be solved. Our artillery is too small, and the range is occasionally insufficient. In addition, when attacking a city, this kind of artillery can only suppress the city head, but cannot destroy the city wall. I
The idea is that we need to build a bigger cannon."
The longer and thicker the barrel, the more ammunition it can hold, and the natural range is longer.
"With the artillery shells we currently use, no matter how big we make them, they still can't blow open the city wall."
Bi Maokang reminded Zuo Mengeng that he had already thought of it.
"My idea is that large artillery can not only fire shells, but also fire solid shells. This will be very effective for attacking city walls."
Unless a new generation of gunpowder can be installed, warheads made of black powder will really not be able to do anything against the city walls of this era.
However, solid cannonballs can bring down city walls.
Since it is effective, then adopt it. Zuo Mengeng does not think that doing so is a step backwards, everything is based on practical considerations.
Others have no opinions either.
As officers, of course they hope to have more powerful artillery available for use.
Bi Maokang asked the last question.
"Is the large artillery rear-loading or front-loading?"
Zuo Mengeng did not jump to conclusions easily, but asked: "What do you think of Mr. Dongjiao?"
Bi Maokang was very determined.
"Based on our current technology, large artillery must use front-loading mode."
Since he was not allowed to dress up, Zuo Mengeng followed suit and focused on other places.
"Can large artillery be cast from steel?"
Bi Maokang gave an unexpected answer.
"This kind of artillery can be made of steel, but it cannot be cast. It must be made by cold forging."
Zuo Mengeng was quite surprised.
"Does Mr. Dongjiao know the art of cold forging?"
In his impression, cold forging seemed to be a weapon-making technology that would only be used in later generations.
Bi Maokang is content with himself.
"I had nothing to do, so I discussed a lot with Priest Deng Yuhan, and learned the art of cold forging from him."
The cold forging technology of weapons in this era is not exactly the same as that of later generations, but it can be regarded as the initial version of later generations of technology.
What Zuo Mengeng didn't know was that the gunsmiths who were kidnapped by the Dongjiang rebels and sent to Liaodong soon after mastered the cold forging artillery techniques they learned from Western priests, and as a result, they gained a lot of money.
Not only that, Bi Maokang, as a technology geek, also told Zuo Mengeng some good news.
"I am currently studying whether the cold forging technique can be used to manufacture gun barrels, and I have some ideas. Once successful, the quality of the barrels of our army's muskets will be even higher in the future."
Cold forging was the method used to make gun barrels in later generations. Although the New Army's muskets were made of wrought iron, cold-forged barrels were better than cast ones, with much fewer bubbles.
Tu Yixian also knew that Zuo Mengeng was very busy, so he just asked all the questions he had.
"Come on, if you want to build large-scale artillery, you will need a new factory area. But at present, the land for our weapons factory is no longer available, and the military department needs to re-plan it."
Zuo Mengeng had already thought about it when he decided to cast large artillery.
"We can't get any land here in Linqing. Let's open a factory in a new place after some time."
His eyes looked towards the Yimeng Mountain area in the south.
It has a vast territory, sparsely populated areas, and weak imperial rule. Once we capture it, we can build whatever factories we want, and build them as big as we want.
Zuo Menggeng went to inspect the gunpowder factory again.
There's not much to say about the black powder department. There won't be any changes other than an increase in manpower.
Because of his actions, Black Powder reached its peak many years in advance, and there was nothing that could be improved.
A large number of manpower has also been added to the mercury fulminate factory, and the current output is five times that of when Houying started.
"I refined the factory area and moved the final assembly area to the west, which is completely separated from here and makes it safer."
As soon as Zuo Dai took up his new post, he started working and was very efficient.
The production of mercury fulminate is extremely dangerous, so all departments are not only far away from residential areas, military camps, and factory areas, but also far away from several internal departments.
Zuo Dai also adheres to Zuo Mengeng's thinking, everything is for safety considerations.
But when it comes to safety, something scary happened.
Just when Zuo Dai was reporting to Zuo Mengeng, there was a sudden commotion in front of him, and then he saw a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old running wildly with a ignited fire folder in his hand.
Behind him, there were dozens of people chasing him all the way.
Someone actually lit an open fire in the mercury fulminate factory area, and Zuo Dai turned pale with fright.
"Guards, take him down. Shenzuo, please go first, it's dangerous here."
Zuo Mengeng shook his head, unmoved.
It is certainly dangerous to open a fire in the mercury fulminate factory, but where they are, there is an open area within a hundred meters. Even if this person throws fire sticks around, it is impossible to ignite the mercury fulminate.
Zuo Mengeng was very curious, why did this person dare to do this?
While he was thinking about it, the guards had already rushed up and stopped the young man head-on. They punched and kicked him and subdued him, and the fire was extinguished.
When the man was beaten, he was not afraid and kept shouting.
"I'm angry... I'm angry..."
Only then did Zuo Mengeng notice that he was holding a bulging leather bag in his other hand. He didn't know what it was.
The people behind also caught up, apparently the factory manager.
Without saying anything, I came up and gave him a big slap.
"Chen Shuangjin, you are crazy! Didn't I tell you that open fire is not allowed in the factory?"