Chapter 1273 Cuban Technological Innovation: Arab Schooners and the First Matchlock Gun

The dry wind rises from the Iberian Peninsula in the dry season, crosses the entire Atlantic Ocean, is brewed by the Azores high pressure, and finally turns into the moist northeast trade wind, blowing powerfully to the west. And when the May trade wind blows and reaches the hot Caribbean islands, heavy water vapor falls from the clouds in the sky, bringing the rainy season to the big island of Cuba.

"Whoops... whoops!..."

The wind blows the waves, and the oars cut through the waves. The Kingdom's Tiewan Town has become the busiest place on the island of Cuba, which is thousands of miles away. Hundreds of canoes fished in and around the harbor, while more tribes rowed boats and came from all over Cuba to trade. There were even many canoes coming from the distant island of Haiti, carrying loads of tobacco, fruits and cotton threads in exchange for a few useful iron tools and a small bag of beautiful glass beads.

"Everyone, work harder and raise the sail! Okay! Okay!..."

In the simple shipbuilding yard at the port, carpenter Antonio waved his arms and directed several apprentices to raise a brand new triangular sail to the newly added topmast of the longship. The original Viking-style longship, after this transformation, turned into an Arabian-style dual-purpose schooner, with three masts and horizontal and vertical sails.

"Blessed by the Son of God of Huitziloppo! With these improvements, the efficiency of wind utilization should be greatly increased. The number of rowers required for normal navigation can also be greatly reduced, or even no rowers are needed... Let's go on board and try it out on the sea... "

Soon, several kingdom warriors armed with spears and bows, both for protection and surveillance, boarded the boat with the carpenter Antonio. Then, this long galley boat, which was originally rowed by forty people, slowly started to move faster and faster with just the power of the wind, until it sailed out of the bay! …

"Damn it! Antonio, this guy, went to sea again! I told him before that we would steal a boat and escape together... But not only did this guy not agree, he even threatened to report me!... Damn it!..."

On the outskirts of Tiewan Town, "Shithead" Alana squatted on the hills, watching the "Arab schooner" sailing out of the port, his eyes turned red with envy. His nose is also red. It's not that he has any disease, it's just that he was smoked by the nitrate fields below. Now he can't even smell it.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuori! This smell on my body can no longer be washed away, and it can't be washed away... Ah! If I could go back to my hometown manor, enjoy the cool under the oak trees, stay in the orchard, and drink the wine I brewed... Wuwu ! Brother-in-law, brother-in-law! When will you bring the kingdom’s fleet to rescue me?…”

Alana turned her head and looked at the two acres of saltpeter fields under the hills and the excrement from the town that was transported every day. She couldn't help but burst into tears. How come he, the son of a large Castile manor owner, listened to his brother-in-law Columbus and boarded the Kingdom's exploration ship, ran to the depths of the ocean thousands of miles away, and was captured by vicious natives, and eventually became Did you get a "dung head" for making saltpeter?

No one can answer such philosophical questions. A person's destiny depends not only on himself, but also on the process of history. The salty sea breeze blew by, and the two acres of accumulated saltpeter fields were already glowing with a faint white color. In order to prevent erosion during the rainy season, many grass sheds and bamboo sheds were built on the fields.

At this moment, more than a dozen native apprentices were busy in the saltpeter field, sweeping away the white saltpeter soil, piling up new ones, and then continued to pour dung water to spray the saltpeter. Although this kind of saltpeter field does not produce much output and requires a lot of manpower, fortunately, the saltpeter output is very stable. As for the process of boiling the salt, we have to wait for Alana to personally participate. After all, he has the best control over the temperature of boiling saltpeter...

"Ding dong! Ding dong!..."

The green smoke of iron smelting rises from the south side of Tiewan Town. And the continuous sound of blacksmithing also kept ringing in the rows of blacksmith shops. If pouring manure with "Dunghead" Alana is the job most avoided by all native apprentices, then working with "Ironhead" Carlo is the most popular good job! Because the iron tools they smelt and forge are the most powerful hard currency on the entire island of Cuba!

Under the guidance of goldsmith Carlo, the iron smelting furnaces throughout Iron Bay were upgraded and replaced with new "honeycomb furnaces". After changing the furnace and absorbing the European iron smelting experience, the quality and efficiency of the iron smelting have almost doubled, which is simply shocking!

Since you have real craftsmanship, you will be highly rewarded and reused by the kingdom. The goldsmith Carlo soon had his own blacksmith shop and created a complete set of European blacksmithing tools. Then, relying on his "unique" blacksmithing skills, he became the de facto mentor of many kingdom blacksmiths, a "master blacksmith" who was studied and imitated.

He seized the time and hammered and forged day and night to create a fine iron sailor's scimitar and presented it to the warrior battalion commander Huitu Puap. And this kind of "magic weapon" that has reached the level of low-quality steel also makes the warriors of the kingdom marvel, and everyone is jealous.

Since then, there has been an endless stream of kingdom warriors looking for Carlo to build "magic weapons". His status also increased. Not only did he marry two native wives, he also took on more than a dozen apprentices, becoming the best "master" among all the surrendered prisoners.

"Lord of Huitziloppo! I never thought that I, Carlo, could also become the 'master blacksmith' of the native kingdom! The respected Bishop Sipangu told me that this position is equivalent to the nobles of the kingdom... Ahaha! My buried The ancestors in the soil have witnessed that our generation of blacksmiths can actually produce a noble nobleman! What a blessing from our ancestors..."

"Praise the Lord! How can being an ordinary blacksmith in the Kingdom of Castile compare to being a noble in the native kingdom?...Ahaha! When I create a noble family, I will use "iron felt" as the emblem of the nobility and the blacksmith "Herrero" as the new noble surname!..."

Thinking of this, a bright smile bloomed on the face of the goldsmith Carlo. Sometimes, he was a little grateful to Columbus for bringing them to this big island and being captured by the native kingdom, which completely changed his fate.

"Ding Dong!..."

The sound of iron hammering continued to sound on the iron felt. The newly recruited native apprentices were sweating profusely, forging the simplest spearheads and farm tools. And the goldsmith Carlo just took a simple look and occasionally demonstrated and pointed out the key points. By the way, since getting married, he has also been very diligent in learning foreign languages, especially speaking Cuban tribal languages, and can communicate smoothly with the apprentices.

"Watch carefully! This is how the bellows are used! You need to look at the color of the iron to estimate the temperature, this red color is about right! Forging should be fast, accurate, and fierce, and the iron bar should be turned in one direction, so that the pattern can be produced!..."

After instructing the apprentices on forging, goldsmith Carlo straightened his chest and head and came to his position. Archbishop Sipangu once asked him if he could make "water-driven, bang-bang iron-forging things", and he was stunned for a moment, realizing that this was referring to "hydraulic forging hammers". But how could he, an ordinary blacksmith in Iberia, know about this high-end thing popular in the Holy Roman Empire and the states of northern Italy?

Then Archbishop Sipangu asked him if he could make "gunpowder-filled, bang-bang shooting things". This time, he was a little embarrassed, but still nodded respectfully. It was just the barrel of a matchlock gun. He knew how to make it. Although it was extremely troublesome and time-consuming, and he could not make any money. It was often the military supply task that the Kingdom of Castile forcibly distributed, forcing the blacksmiths to do it...

"Dangdang!"

Caro, the goldsmith, took a deep breath, pulled out the hardest gold tube, and took out the threaded wrought iron bar that had been forged many times and even rolled twice. Next, it was the most labor-intensive work, forging the iron bar onto the gold tube section by section, rotating it tightly and wrapping it. After thousands of times of hammering, the iron bars will become solid thousand-forged iron, and will be completely fused together, and finally become the barrel of the matchlock gun! ...

"Dangdang! Dangdang..."

In the town of Tiewan on the Cuban Peninsula, amid the hammering sound of the blacksmith shop, the kingdom's first matchlock gun, also the first homemade matchlock gun in North America, was slowly solidifying its shape~

The second voyage of the European continent has been paved. Next, we will go south from Kamchatka and have our first contact with the country.(●''●)Thank you for your support. I will be asking for your monthly vote at the beginning of the month!