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The casting process of the Caron gun is not complicated, because the gun body is short, and there is no need to bear too high chamber pressure, the gun wall can be made thinner, which fully meets the conditions of graphitization annealing, and can be painted according to the gourd according to the method of casting a 12-pound mountain howitzer. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

However, it is not completely unlimited, after calculation, it cannot exceed the standard of 32 pounds at most - the weight of the long-barreled cannon gun is about 2oo times the weight of the shell, and the Caron gun is about 4o times, so the weight of the 32-pound naval gun is about 64oo pounds, plus the gun carriage and other ancillary facilities, the weight is about two and a half tons, and the 32-pound Caron gun is only 128o pounds, about 58o kilograms, and the standard of 32 pounds, such as 48 pounds, then the weight and wall thickness are not suitable for annealing.

It's just that it is impossible for a battleship to walk lame, and it is not possible to completely abandon cannons, and sometimes it is necessary to perform shore shooting, which is more suitable for such tasks, and in addition, cannons are also needed to shoot chain shells that destroy the enemy's mast. Then the problem arises, even a 12-pounder long-barreled cannon gun, which is far more length, weight and wall thickness than a 12-pounder mountain howitzer, cannot be cast by graphitization annealing, but can only be cast by traditional methods.

The current conditions cannot smelt gray cast iron, and the disadvantages of artillery made of white cast iron are there, and Lin Weiye will not use white iron to cast cannons anyway. Moreover, the problem of gray iron is solved, and the caron cannon can also be cast directly from gray iron, after all, the graphitization annealing process is too inefficient, and it is only an expedient measure.

The key to solving the problem is to increase the furnace temperature, and the key to increasing the furnace temperature is to replace charcoal with coke, and the Qiongzhou government only produces lignite, not coking. Lin Weiye couldn't solve this problem, he could only go to Xia Nan again, and it was difficult to find the leader!

Xia Nan was thinking that he could be idle for a few days, and as soon as Lin Weiye put this problem in front of him, he knew that this wish could not be realized in the short term, and he could not be idle again.

He asked in frustration: "There is no coking coal in Qiongzhou, where is it?" ”

"I told you before that Shanxi has the most abundant coal reserves, and there are coal that meets the needs of various uses, but the problem is that Nei 6 is too far away from us and unrealistic, and the closest coastal to us is Shandong."

Xia Nan searched in his memory, and the historical Kong Youdeden Prefecture Mutiny seemed to be in the winter of the fourth year of Chongzhen. He is in a bad mood, it is now the end of August, and it is not long before the wax moon, at this time to go to Shandong, wouldn't he plunge headlong into the whirlpool of mutiny, and lose his life, a mutiny of this scale is not a small fight of hundreds of thousands of people, and the rebels and the official army have invested tens of thousands of troops.

He asked with a fluke mentality: "In addition to Shandong, is there any in Guangdong and Guangxi, and what about Fujian?" ”

Lin Weiye ruthlessly exposed his attempt: "Don't try to take tricks, Liangguang and Fujian are not major coal-producing provinces, even if there is a small coal mine, the coal seam is too far from the surface, with the exploration conditions of this time and space, it cannot be found, and if it is found, it is impossible to mine." Shandong is the most famous coal-producing area in the coastal provinces, and there is a Longkou coal mine on the seaside, which produces exactly the bituminous coal we need, or a shallow coal mine, the scale is not small, and the sea is also convenient, there is no more suitable coal mine for us. ”

"Dragon's mouth? What exactly is the location? ”

"I remember that Longkou City is a county-level city in Yantai, right next to Penglai City......"

Xia Nan covered his eyes and looked up to the sky and sighed - Penglai is the seat of the Dengzhou Mansion in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, that is, the capital city, and Kong Youde's mutiny was born here!

He made a final effort: "Do you have to go north?" Can't go south? I remember that there were also big coal mines in Vietnam. ”

Lin Weiye asked rhetorically: "You are talking about Hongji Coal Mine, right?" ”

In fact, Xia Nan didn't know the name of the coal mine, but vaguely remembered that there was such a coal mine in Vietnam, and nodded homeopathically: "It seems to be yes, it's still a port, and it's very convenient to ship by sea, right?" ”

Lin Weiye sighed: "Hongji Coal Mine is a good coal mine, producing high-quality anthracite, thick coal seam and thin topsoil, which is conducive to open-pit mining, and has coal reserves of about 2 billion tons. It is the most important coal base in Vietnam, accounting for 9o% of the country's output. It's a pity that anthracite is more suitable for fuel, not coking, and if we can use the steam engine on a large scale, then this is a treasure mine that must be occupied, and it makes little sense to us now. Perhaps, when the metallurgical technology reaches a certain level, it can be used for blast furnace injection......"

"Okay." Xia Nan decided to accept his fate, "Since coke is a hurdle that cannot be bypassed, then it can only be gnawed." "Although there is a great risk in entering Shandong, which is about to mutiny, but after crossing, from Hu Gangsheng to Huang Mengjia, and then to the army of bandits in Fucheng, is the risk still small? It's not a step-by-step approach.

"However, it seems a bit uneconomical to take such a big risk and travel such a long way just for coking coal." Xia Nan thought about it, "I have to pull something back, so it's worth the trip." You are from Shandong, help me think about it. "He is still a businessman at heart, and maximizing profits is his purpose.

"My hometown is indeed Shandong, and there are a lot of good things in Shandong Province, but I can't get anything in a hurry, right?" Lin Weiye was a little difficult, "Shandong is very rich in marine and mineral resources, it is still a land of fruits, cotton and flue-cured tobacco and other cash crops are also large, and Tsingtao's beer is also famous throughout the country, but it is of little use to us at the moment?" You can't come back with a few boatloads of seafood? There will only be more of this stuff in Hainan. ”

"Flue-cured tobacco and beer?" Xia Nan noticed these two things, "Don't say it, when Shandong stabilizes, we can consider developing these two industries, and if we get it right, it will be a source of money." ”

Lin Weiye spread his hands: "I admit that you have a big brain, but this is also a matter of the future, and it has nothing to do with the present." ”

Xia Nan pondered: "Let me think about it, at this time, there seems to be a big official in Shandong named Sun Yuanhua, who is a disciple of Xu Guangqi, and he is training firearms troops in Dengzhou, and Kong Youde's rebellion is to take away Hongyi cannons and craftsmen, so that Huang Taiji's ability to attack fortifications will improve by leaps and bounds overnight......

Lin Weiye's eyes lit up: "As soon as you say this, I remember, Sun Yuanhua also has a Portuguese mercenary instructor group under him, specializing in teaching artillery technology, if you can get these people, it will be a valuable asset." Although I can find a way to forge a cannon, the operation and shooting skills of the smoothbore cannon are not comparable to these professionals in this time and space, and with them training artillery, our artillery level can be improved by several grades. ”

Xia Nanyi clapped his hands: "It makes sense, why don't you get Sun Yuanhua too?" This person seems to be one of the few technical officials in the Ming Dynasty, who understands and attaches importance to firearms, and has the experience of being in charge. ”