Shangyuan Festival is the most solemn festival in the Ming Dynasty, although the government has canceled the holiday, but the city of Nantou is still very lively, the common people brave the drizzle to travel with their families, and the shops on both sides of the street are full of beautiful lanterns. The girls of the boudoir who usually do not go out of the door have invariably walked on the street, and the youthful shadow holding an oil-paper umbrella has become a beautiful scenery on the street, and the laughter like silver bells is like a trace of spring rain, sprinkled all over the streets and alleys, and also sprinkled with the spring heart of the young people.

However, all this has nothing to do with He Zhi'er, the excitement only belongs to others, and she still has to earn money to support her family, so early in the morning, as usual, she walked to the weapons field in the northeast corner of the city with her toolbox.

As soon as He Zhi'er entered the arsenal, he met another apprentice, this guy's name is Zheng Mancang, who is holding a big bowl of fragrant meat porridge in his left hand and a steaming meat bun in his right hand.

"Xiao Mo, hurry up and go to the kitchen to get breakfast, it's hearty." Zheng Mancang gobbled up as he pointed to the kitchen in the back.

He Zhi'er couldn't help but wonder: "Have breakfast today?" ”

Although there is a kitchen in the armory, it only provides meals for formal craftsmen, and as an apprentice, you are not qualified to eat in the kitchen, and you have to bring your own lunch every day, let alone breakfast.

Zheng Mancang said excitedly: "Today there is not only breakfast to eat, but also lunch to eat, hehe, the key is to triple the salary." ”

He Zhi'er was surprised and delighted: "Brother Mancang, it's really fake, don't you lie again, right?" ”

"Hey, what are you lying to you about? Today is the Lantern Festival, I heard that this is what the Governor gave us...... Welfare, yes, it's welfare, the Governor is really a good official who loves the people like a son, hehe, when have we little people enjoyed this kind of good thing. ”

He Zhi'er sighed, hurriedly put down the toolbox and ran to the kitchen, and sure enough, she received a big bowl of meat porridge and a steaming meat bun, plus a fritter. Due to the shyness in the bag, the family usually rarely eats meat, and this bowl of fragrant meat porridge suddenly upset the gluttonous worms in He Zhi'er's stomach, but the little girl swallowed her saliva, and finally poured the bowl of meat porridge into the lunch box she brought, and only ate the meat buns and fritters.

"Xiao Mo, why don't you eat meat porridge?" Zheng Mancang said.

"Then it is needless to say, take it home and give it to his lame father to eat, Mo Cripple is a good blessing, such a filial son is on the stall, and the two bastards in my family will only reach out and ask for money all day long." Huang Bantou walked over with his teeth picked, and his tone was sour.

He Zhi'er whispered: "Dad raised me so big, it is very appropriate to be filial to him." ”

Huang Bantou pursed his lips and muttered, "Who raises whom?" The lame man didn't work, but he went out all day long, and he didn't see anything to eat at home. ”

He Zhi'er lowered her head and chewed slowly, but she didn't hear it.

"Xiao Mo, hurry in to help after breakfast, the Governor treats us well, and we have to come up with results as soon as possible." Huang Bantou patted his belly and walked towards the foundry.

He Zhi'er hurriedly sped up to finish breakfast, and then trotted into the foundry room with the toolbox. Zheng Mancang's face was full of envy, although everyone was an apprentice, but He Zhi'er was deeply respected by the two leaders.

He Zhi'er entered the foundry, and Huang Bantou was discussing with several other veteran craftsmen the reason for the explosion of the Franc machine gun.

I only heard a craftsman say eloquently: "Huang Bantou, we have carefully compared the captured Franc machine guns, and our guns are completely consistent in terms of the length of the barrel and the thickness of the barrel, and the diameter and width of the barrel are also very different.

Therefore, we think that the reason why our cannon is easy to explode should be because the fire temperature is not grasped enough during casting, and the toughness of the cannon body is not as strong as that of Western guns. ”

Huang Bantou frowned and said: "I also think it's the reason, the key is how to remedy it?" We have to figure out how to do this. ”

Several old craftsmen couldn't help but look at each other, and the defective products that were not up to standard quality could only be recast, how to remedy them?

"Huang Bantou, it's better to explain it directly to the Governor, these defective products can only be recast." The old craftsman shook his head and sighed.

Huang Bantou rolled his eyes and said, "The big war is coming, how long will it take to reforge it, and how much silver will it cost?" What the Governor wants is a remedy, not a waste of time and silver recasting, otherwise there is no need to look for us, just let Nanjing mint another batch. ”

The old craftsman spread his hands and said, "What else can I do?" The quality of this batch of artillery itself is not up to par, even if the ancestor (Lu Ban) is resurrected. ”

Just as everyone was arguing and saliva, He Zhi'er next to him suddenly said weakly: "Huang Bantou, I think that although the quality of these cannons is not good enough, it will not be recast. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes suddenly looked at each other, and several craftsmen showed displeasure, everyone agreed that the quality of the cannon body was not up to par, and this little apprentice interjected and put forward different opinions, which was simply unbelievable.

Huang Bantou was overjoyed and said, "Xiao Mo, do you have a solution?" ”

An old craftsman pouted and said, "A stinky boy who has not dried up, has only been learning art with Ma Bantou for two years, and the heat is far away, what can he do?" It's just grandstanding! ”

Huang Bantou glared at that person and encouraged: "Xiao Mo, you kid has a flexible brain, if there is any good way to say it, it will make sense to say it or not, and you don't care about these old guys." ”

He Zhi'er said weakly: "Ma Bantou, I have tested the broken iron of the Franc cannon, and the quality is indeed a little lacking, it should be caused by the rush of the construction period, but it is not too bad." The main reason is that our smelting level is not as good as that of the Westerners, and the rate of fire of Western cannons is too fast, the barrel is easy to overheat, and the barrel we made ourselves can't withstand it, so it will blow up, even if we recast a batch of artillery, this problem is estimated to be unsolved. ”

Several old craftsmen suddenly blackened their faces, the Chinese people have always regarded themselves as the superior country of the Celestial Empire, and He Zhi'er's words of "Changyang people's ambition and destruction of their own prestige" made them very unhappy.

An old craftsman even scolded: "Nonsense, it's just nonsense, the artillery of the foreign fan is good, but when it comes to the level of smelting, it is not that I have never seen a Western knife, but it is just that, it is not as good as our Ming waist knife." ”

Huang Bantou was naturally not happy with He Zhi'er's self-deprecation, but if he could solve the problem, it would be a great achievement, so he patiently stopped several old craftsmen and said in a deep voice: "Xiao Mo, you continue to speak!" ”

He Zhi'er was sprayed red by several old craftsmen, but she really wanted to help solve the problem, so that the officers and soldiers could drive away the evil Westerners as soon as possible, so she squatted down on the ground and drew a picture of the Franc cannon.

Huang Bantou and several old tools all gathered around, at first, several old craftsmen were still sneering, but when they saw the barrel drawn by He Zhi'er, they suddenly showed a look of thought, and then became solemn.

The shape of the Franc cannon drawn by He Zhier has basically not changed, but six iron hoops have been added to the barrel to make it look like a bamboo.

After He Zhi'er finished drawing the picture, he introduced a little shyly: "I think that adding six iron hoops to the barrel should solve the problem that the gun body is not tough enough, well, especially in the position of the gun chamber, the iron hoop should be thicker." ”

Huang Bantou couldn't help but show joy on his face, he himself is also an old craftsman, the plan is not feasible and he can see at a glance, the method of reinforcing the gun body with an iron hoop is absolutely perfect, first, there is no need to change the gun body itself, and secondly, it also saves time and materials.

"Okay, let's do it, let's try it, if it's feasible, this team will give you a big credit." Huang Bantou patted He Zhi'er on the shoulder and laughed.

"Huang Bantou, don't be too happy, this method seems to be feasible, but whether it will work or not has to be tested to know." An old craftsman immediately poured cold water.

Huang Bantou rolled his eyes, didn't talk nonsense, and immediately ordered someone to light the fire.

The work of adding cast iron hoops is not cumbersome, and it took half a day to get a Franc cannon, and after the cannon body cooled down, Huang Bantou pulled the cannon to the test site outside the city non-stop.

Boom Boom Boom ......

When the earth-shattering cannon sound rang out one after another, Xu Jin and Wang Hong, the deputy envoy of Haidao, were discussing countermeasures in the back hall of the yamen, when they suddenly heard the sound of cannons, they quickly stood up, and only then did they sit down again when they learned that it was the armory field that was testing artillery.

Wang Hong smiled and quipped: "As the saying goes, money can make ghosts destroy, it seems that the governor's triple salary is really not in vain, only half a day's work, the guys in the armory field have begun to test the cannon, I hope it is not a blind toss." ”

Xu Jin smiled: "It's better than not tossing, things in this world, as long as you don't forget, there will always be an echo, there will be results if you toss, and if you don't toss, there will definitely be no results." ”

Wang Hong solemnly said: "Lord Xu's words are very philosophical, and they are deeply sobering, and the lower officials have been taught!" ”

Xu Jin couldn't help but be dumbfounded, waved his hand and said modestly: "It's just a feeling for a while, Lord Wang is serious." ”

The two chatted for another half an hour, and Han Dajie, a hundred households of Jinyi Wei, ran in and said happily: "Congratulations to the handsome, congratulations to the handsome, the problem of the Franc machine gun is solved." ”

Xu Jin and Wang Feng were stunned for a moment, then Huo Ran stood up and said in unison: "Really? ”

Han Dajie grinned and said: "My subordinates just saw it with their own eyes at the test site, the improved Franc machine gun fired ten shots in a row, and the gun chamber and barrel were all safe and sound, tsk, I didn't expect that there would be such a clever firearms master in this small place where birds don't, people can't look good, and the sea water can't fight." ”

Xu Jin and Wang Feng were overjoyed, hurriedly left the yamen, and rushed to the armory field with the generals to see what was going on.