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"By the way, what's going on with Rick's cannon casting?"

Li Zixiao suddenly remembered one more thing and asked Tie Pingliang.

Li Ke's cannon casting workshop is also under the jurisdiction of Tie Pingliang, Li Zixiao didn't worry about the red-haired devil, so he let Tie Pingliang supervise him.

After hearing this, Tie Pingliang's face suddenly looked bad, he pursed his lips slightly, and said, "General, you don't know how difficult that red-haired devil is.

It doesn't work here today, it doesn't work anywhere tomorrow, he can find out the fault every day, but he hasn't started work for a long time, and not a single cannon has been cast so far. 、

Every day, he calls the craftsmen under him, and I don't know what the red-haired devil is going to do, I think he is a liar at all. ”

Li Zixiao, who was still happy just now, immediately frowned after hearing this.

And he could see that Tie Pingliang didn't have a good impression of this Li Ke.

However, according to the previous conversation between Li Zixiao and Li Ke, this person definitely has real material in his stomach, and he believes that he will not look at the wrong person.

But at this time, Li Ke did not start work for a long time, which made Li Zixiao suddenly feel not very good.

After all, in his plan this year, once he went north to fight the Tartars, the musket was a big weapon in his hand, and the Western artillery cast by Li Ke made him regard it as a heavy weapon.

What is a heavy weapon, it is a big killing weapon, and at critical moments, it can be used to turn the tide of battle.

Moreover, according to Li Zixiao's plan, before September, he would see at least twenty or more three-pounder guns, and even three to five four-pounder guns as heavy firepower.

In this way, Li Zixiao's White Dragon Army was barely formed, a mixed army of semi-cold weapons and hot weapons, with both offensive and defensive weapons and powerful firepower.

However, now more than a month has passed, and Li Ke has not started work yet, isn't this a major event to delay Li Zixiao!

"Forget it, I'd better see for myself!"

Li Zixiao's face turned cold, and he said to Tie Pingliang, he wanted to go over and see for himself, what the hell Li Ke was doing.

So the group immediately left the blacksmith workshop and walked towards the cannon casting workshop that Li Zixiao specially ordered someone to build for Li Ke after the year.

The cannon casting workshop is also a branch of the blacksmith workshop, and the location is also in the mountain behind the White Tiger Village, in this flat land.

It's just that in a corner, a shed was built for Li Ke, and the furnace that should be built in it was also built for him.

After all, there is no shortage of craftsmen here, it is not difficult to do this, and the area is really not small, it can be seen that after Sun Tong has Li Zixiao's instructions, he also attaches great importance to this matter.

As soon as Li Zixiao entered here, he also felt the heat rushing to his face, and several furnaces were lit on fire, smelting work was being carried out.

And the first batch of bronze ware of various colors sent by Li Zixiao after the year has already been melted into copper ingots.

Moreover, there are craftsmen who specialize in this and re-refine these miscellaneous coppers so that they can meet Li Ke's requirements.

At this time, the furnaces are burning red, and some craftsmen are connecting copper water into the crucible, carrying it and pouring it into copper ingots, which is used as raw materials for use.

And after arriving here, Li Zixiao looked around but didn't see Li Ke, and his face was even more ugly.

So he asked the craftsmen here where Li Ke was.

The craftsman who was asked hurriedly saluted Li Zixiao, and immediately replied: "Craftsman Li should be in his room at this time, and the little one doesn't know what he's doing!" ”

Li Zixiao's face became completely gloomy, everyone else was working, this guy was still in his room, was he really lazy?

So, Li Zixiao made a straight face, asked Li Ke's residence, and immediately took Quartz, Tie Pingliang and others to find it.

And Tie Pingliang showed a gloating expression, obviously waiting to see the red-haired ghost's joke.

Li Ke's residence was next to the cannon foundry, and Li Zixiao walked to the door without knocking, and kicked the door open.

As a result, an angry roar immediately came from inside: "Didn't you say, don't bother me with anything important, and don't you know to knock on the door before you enter the door?" ”

Li Zixiao had a cold face, strode into the room, and saw Li Ke lying on the table, drawing something on the paper, looking very serious, without looking up at them.

"Rick, what the hell are you doing!" Li Zixiao forcibly held back the anger in his heart and shouted.

Li Ke looked up and saw Li Zixiao at this time, so he jumped up like a spring on his buttocks, bowed to Li Zixiao and said, "It turns out that the general is here!"

I don't know if the general is coming, I miss the welcome, and I ask the general to forgive me! ”

Li Zixiao didn't pay attention to him, strode to his table, looked down, and saw all kinds of rulers, scales and other things on the table, as well as some compasses and other things.

Obviously, these things were made after he came here.

And on the piece of paper on the table, there were also a lot of things written in words that he couldn't read, as well as accompanying pictures, and when he looked at it, he could see that this was originally the artillery design of Li Kelong.

And it is a cannon designed, with various Arabic numerals marked on it, although Li Zixiao can't understand the text he marked, but it can be seen that this guy's cartographic ability is still very strong.

Among all the craftsmen here in Baihu Village, his drawing level is definitely the first.

It turned out that this guy was not lazy in the house, but was here to make artillery blueprints and prepare for the casting of cannons.

This made Li Zixiao extinguish a lot of anger, and after calming down his anger, he asked Li Ke: "How is your cannon here now?"

I came here this time to see the progress of your work, and I didn't see you in the shed just now, so I found you here! ”

Originally, Tie Pingliang was still counting on watching Li Zixiao and was furious with this red-haired ghost.

But when he saw Li Zixiao twisting around the table, he was angry, so he felt a little deflated, and he didn't dare to interject to accuse Li Ke of being a red-haired ghost.

Tie Pingliang also saw the objects on the table at this time, and immediately understood that he really misunderstood this red-haired devil.

Li Ke hurriedly asked Li Zixiao to sit down, and at this time Li Zixiao found out that this guy was actually very good at enjoying it.

Inside his room, it's very clean, and it's very comfortable, it seems that this guy loves to be clean.

"General, you Orientals have a good saying, everything is difficult at the beginning, I am here, everything has to start from the beginning.

Our weights and measures in the West are completely different from those in your country, and if you want to make a good artillery, you have to convert it into our units.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to do my job, so I've spent a lot of time these days, making these tools, designing the drawings for the artillery fabrication, and then I'm going to open the mold.

I have to use the most sophisticated technology to cast the cannon, which requires a lot of wax and butter, which in our country is called the "lost wax method", which is a very delicate work.

Now that all the drawings I need to draw have been completed and the various materials are ready, I plan to start the official mold tomorrow.

First make a model out of wax and butter, then make a clay mold, and finally finish pouring, and then the progress of my cannon casting will be greatly accelerated.

But without my preliminary preparation for this month, the rest of the work would not have been carried out at all, and I hope the general will forgive me. ”

Li Ke talked eloquently to Li Zixiao, and his Chinese level improved a lot.

After hearing this, Tie Pingliang on the side sneered on the spot, but he scoffed at what Li Ke said.

In Li Ke's view, the "lost wax method" is a very high technology, but in Huaxia, the "lost wax method" is a process that has been going on for more than a thousand years.

At present, most of the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty cast things, and most of them use the 'lost wax method'.

Li Zixiao also smiled slightly, and he also knew that the 'lost wax method' was indeed a commonly used precision casting method, and it was also more suitable for casting guns.

Moreover, the bronze cannon cast by the 'lost wax method' is very exquisite, and each cannon casting CD can be called a work of art.

And he also understands the 'lost wax method' casting process, which is really nothing new in China, and it can be said to have a long history of thousands of years.

However, at this time, the Ming Dynasty's artillery casting technology has indeed begun to lag behind the West, which is an indisputable fact.

Since you are lagging behind, you have to admit it, learn your lessons, and then catch up, instead of continuing to bask in the glory of the past.

Casting a cannon is not a trivial matter, it is easy to say, but the preliminary preparation is still quite complicated.

Li Zixiao also had to admit that they still faced a lot of difficulties, and many raw materials he didn't have here and needed to be purchased from outside.

Even the raw materials used to make clay molds must be finely ground out, sieved and set aside, and the complexity is not as simple as imagined.

At this time, the more fully prepared Li Ke is, the greater the chance of success, and the higher the quality of the cannon cast.

This kind of thing can't be rushed, it has to come step by step, Li Zixiao also knew that he had misunderstood him just now, and took the initiative to apologize to Li Ke.

The development of industrial technology involves too many factors.

Many things cannot be achieved overnight, and they must be accumulated gradually.

Just like Li Zixiao's flintlock pistol at this time, he also followed step by step, improving the technical content of his craftsmen step by step.

After listening to Li Ke's explanation, Li Zixiao was completely relieved of Li Ke, and the task of casting cannons was given to him.

"Li Ke, you did the right thing, but I was too anxious, you just continue to do it step by step, I will hand over the task of casting cannons to you, don't let me down.

If you will attain the goal I have set for you before the date I have given you, then I will reward you with a lump sum of a hundred taels of silver as an additional reward for your work. ”

As soon as Li Ke heard the silver, his eyes suddenly lit up with gold, and he immediately bowed down and replied, "I am willing to serve the general." ”

Although the progress of the cannon casting is not as fast as imagined, Li Zixiao is still quite satisfied with Li Ke's work at the moment.

He saw a kind of rigor and meticulousness in Li Ke, and at this time, the craftsmen of the White Dragon Army needed this quality in Li Ke the most.

After encouraging Li Ke, Li Zixiao went straight to Wu Yao's gunpowder workshop.

With muskets and artillery, a lot of gunpowder is needed, otherwise those muskets and artillery will all become decorations!

Therefore, Li Zixiao sent someone to inform Wu Yao a year ago, asking him to speed up the allocation of gunpowder, and at the same time reserve gunpowder in the White Dragon Army.

When they arrived at Wu Yao's place, Wu Yao was leading a group of subordinates, and they were very busy.

Right now, he was busy with a few of his men and began to prepare gunpowder.

They first completely crushed the three raw materials for gunpowder, and after reaching a considerable fineness, they also sieved to make the raw materials fully meet the requirements.

Then use a scale to weigh the three raw materials according to the proportion, and then pour them together and stir them fully to finally complete the configuration of gunpowder.

After the gunpowder configuration is completed, it is not the end, when the gunpowder configuration is completed, granulation will be carried out, this work Wu Yao is already very clinker, and the granular gunpowder will come out at that time.

After the granular gunpowder is dried, it cannot be considered completely completed.

It is also necessary to separate various gunpowder particles with different diameters through continuous screening, and finally complete the screening before encapsulating them into wooden barrels and sealing them with yellow wax to prevent moisture.

"Our gunpowder workshop can now produce sixty or seventy catties of gunpowder every day, and these days, hundreds of catties of gunpowder have been made.

Now that there is no shortage of gunpowder, my subordinates plan to hand over these tasks to my subordinates in the future, and I will continue to study paper mines to see if I can research some more powerful fire mines. ”

Wu Yao grinned and said to Li Zixiao while laughing.

"You can continue to produce paper thunder, study it slowly, now our iron master's blacksmith craftsmanship is good, you can try it, use iron to make thunder, the power should be greater."

Even, you can imagine whether the fire thunder can be ignited without a lead to ensure that if it can be pulled or stepped on and exploded, it will be so powerful that the enemy can't dodge it if he wants to. ”

Li Zixiao walked out of the gunpowder workshop and said to Wu Yao, giving him some inspiration.

Li Zixiao really hopes that Wu Yao can make up grenades and mines in the future, although it is really difficult, Li Zixiao just opened a window for Wu Yao.

Before Li Zixiao left Baihu Village, he found the old man Sun Tong and told him to manage Baihu Village well and supervise the work process of various workshops.

Sun Tong nodded again and again and agreed, Li Zixiao wants to sit in the White Snake General Village, which cannot be taken care of all the time, and many things involving production have to be handled by Sun Tong for him

The White Dragon Army has grown step by step, and many things have become more and more detailed, and the demand for management personnel is also increasing.

Li Zixiao's subordinates are in urgent need of talents at this time, and many things can only make his subordinates go into battle with their necks stiff.

And Sun Tong has not done much, with his qualifications, managing Baihu Village for Li Zixiao here is a job that is more suitable for him.

And Sun Tong, the little old man, looks quite honest, just like an ordinary little old man in the countryside, but he does things very carefully, he can't rub sand in his eyes, and he is resolute.

This is also the reason why Li Zixiao replaced him with Old Master Wei and came to manage Baihu Village.