Chapter 262 Bronze Cannon, the First Attempt Across the Ages!

On the fertile soil accumulated by history, human civilization continues to grow like a big tree. People's understanding of the world continues to improve, like a growing root system, providing a steady stream of nutrients for the growth of civilization. The development of science and technology is all the way upward, like a dense tree canopy under the sun, constantly moving toward cutting-edge bifurcations and subdivisions.

In Shulot's view, the progress of human science and technology is a tree-shaped network. Many technologies move forward in a straight line and require front-end development as the cornerstone. Take the European hydraulic machinery of this era as an example. It required excellent iron-making technology as a precursor, because copper and bronze lacked toughness and elasticity and could not be used well as mechanical parts, such as fragile springs.

Some technologies are leaps across generations and rely on human cognitive levels, such as the gunpowder already used by the Alliance, or the current bronze cannon. They don't need iron tools as a foundation, they only need the guidance of prophetic gods. In the hands of American civilization, they can achieve a leap in military technology and burst into a roar that spans the ages!

Thinking of this, the king smiled and stretched out his hand, touching the rough and cold killing weapon in front of him. This is a 1-pound falcon cannon, also called an eagle cannon, cast according to his design.

In Europe of this era, the 1-pounder Eagle Cannon, as a classic light field gun, had just been born. It has the power to defeat all field enemies, with a maximum range of more than two miles and an accurate range of more than two hundred meters. The Eagle Cannon weighs between 200 and 400 kilograms and is maneuverable enough. It is a favorite of seafaring explorers and elite infantry squads, and will continue to be used until the Thirty Years War more than a hundred years later.

Chalape kept watching, and when he saw the king's smile, he quickly tugged on Tiripi's sleeve. Tilippi paused for a moment, then stepped forward and explained carefully.

"Your Majesty, this is the Sun Condor Cannon you asked us to cast. Its length is 1.2 meters, the internal caliber is 5 centimeters, it is made of 250 pounds of bronze, and has a matching hardwood bracket. According to your instructions, with the help of the gunpowder craftsman Next, under the witness of the Holy Eagle Warrior Commander, we conducted a test firing. Using 1 catties of gunpowder to launch 1 catties of stone balls, the range is shorter than your request. The range is about 50 meters."

Tiripi's voice gradually became weaker, but it still reached Xilot's ears clearly. The king's smile suddenly solidified. He looked at Bertard, and the warrior commander nodded slightly. The king's hands clenched silently and he asked in a deep voice.

"Tell me again, what's the range?"

".50 meters."

Facing the coldness in the king's eyes, Tiripi fell to his knees with a "pop". He explained loudly and urgently.

"Your Majesty, the Holy Eagle Warrior Commander can testify! We use a sufficient amount of the best bronze, and the clay molds are also fine enough. It's just that when the cannon is fired, the cannon body will emit a cloud of smoke. Made The craftsman of the wooden cannon said that this was because the metal cannon body was not favored by the gods and weakened the power of the God of Thunder. Only the wooden cannon body had life and could bear the divine power."

"Smoke. Air leakage"

Shulot did not get angry, nor did he pay attention to the competition among the craftsmen. He just frowned and checked again. Some small holes can be vaguely seen on the outer wall of the bronze cannon body.

"Bring me a bucket of water!"

The guard immediately went to the well in the workshop and fetched a bucket of clean water. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the king ordered the cannon to be erected, and then poured water into the opening above. Soon, some extremely small water jets leaked from all parts of the cannon body, accompanied by surprised whispers from the craftsmen.

"The trachoma on the gun body is small and uniform"

Looking at the leaking cannon body, Shulot fell into thought. Casting bronze cannons is far simpler than casting iron cannons, and the 1-pound eagle cannon is the most basic light cannon. This level of trachoma is not considered serious.

"Get a brass pole!"

Shulot shouted again. Then, he personally pushed the copper rod into the muzzle, felt the slight bumps and resistance on the inner wall, and nodded slightly.

"The bore is not smooth enough and needs polishing."

Tilipi's eyes widened, looking at the king's operation with surprise. The image of the other party gradually changed from an authoritative king who forcibly guided him to a half-expert who knew a little about craftsmanship. Then, a voice that could not be refused came and once again transformed into an authoritative king.

"Tiripi, let me see your casting craftsmanship!"

Tilippi bowed his head respectfully. He obediently led everyone to the place where the cannon was cast, and first pointed at a 1.2-meter wax tube.

"Your Majesty, the next few condor cannons are still in the preparation stage. These are barrels made of wax blocks, and the bores have been drilled out. The overall size is the same as a real bronze barrel."

Xiulote nodded. The lost wax method was used to make clay molds, which is very common in Mesoamerican metal crafts.

"Your Majesty, after the wax cannon is made, it must be wrapped with clay and filled with clay inside. Only the feeding port is left at the end of the barrel. This is the clay mold. After the clay mold is completed, just heat it to let the wax inside The tube is melted and the molded clay gun barrel is obtained!”

Tilipi pointed to the two clay molds that had been formed and explained in detail.

"Your Majesty, I have thought about it for a long time. According to the experience of casting bronze clay pots, the holes in the cannon body are leaking air and water. It should be that the drying time of the clay mold is not enough! We have not cast such a huge bronze utensil before, and the clay mold is only dried for one It’s less than a month. Please allow your majesty a little more time to dry the mud film on this new row of condor cannons for three months!”

Hearing Tiripi's analysis and inference, Shulot looked surprised. He looked at the real forging master, and for the first time he recognized him in his heart.

From countless time-travel novels of later generations, Shulot knew that the biggest problem with early cannon casting was that the clay molds used were not up to standard.

The clay mold of the artillery has high requirements on humidity, soil and casting skills. Clay molds are made of compacted clay, and the moisture inside the clay is difficult to dry out. During the casting process, the water vapor in the mud film is heated and evaporates, which will produce honeycomb-shaped holes in the barrel, causing air leakage or even explosion of the barrel when the artillery is fired. Therefore, the moisture inside the clay mold needs to be naturally dried in the shade. As the poundage of artillery increased, the time required for drying in the shade also increased from several months to half a year. If you encounter a rainy season with high humidity, the drying time will be further extended.

"Tiripi, your idea is very good! The past few months have been the rainy season with abundant precipitation. The air is humid and the mud film needs to dry in the shade for longer. The problem with the trial artillery is your responsibility, but it can be forgiven! Now it's precipitation The rainy season will end in the harvest month of October. I will give you another four months to complete this batch of condor cannons!”

Hearing this, Tilippi breathed a sigh of relief. Chalape's face also showed joy. The two looked at each other and knelt down to salute at the same time.

"Your Majesty, thank you for your tolerance! Your mind is like a boundless lake."

"Go on, finish talking about the craftsmanship!"

Tiripi stood up, walked to the bronze furnace, and continued his story.

"Your Majesty, after the clay mold of the cannon barrel is completed, the furnace can be lit to melt the bronze cannon. You see, there is a deep pit next to the outlet below the furnace for placing the clay mold. We will The artillery clay mold's feed port is facing upward and placed in the pit."

Tiripi said and waved. The two craftsman apprentices carefully placed the clay mold of the artillery into the pit with the muzzle facing up.

"Then, fill the pit, and use clay to make a clay pipe that connects the outlet of the furnace and the inlet of the gun barrel mud mold to guide the injection of molten copper water. This step also requires controlling the heat so that the copper water flows out. The speed should not be too fast, so as not to deflect the cannon core in the clay mold. Then, wait until the copper water in the clay mold cools naturally, then take the clay mold out of the soil, and finally smash it open to take out the cannon."

Shulot listened patiently to the process of casting the cannon, recalling several terms and fragments that he barely understood.

"Natural cooling. I seem to remember that there is a saying in cannon casting called water-cooled self-tightening. It should be to make the mold of the cannon core hollow and add water to it, so that the cannon barrel is cooled and tightened from the inside out, which greatly improves the quality. , the clay mold cannot be filled with water, it should be an iron mold.

The iron model clay mold is disposable and must be broken open to retrieve the cannon. The surface of the iron fan is smoother and can be used repeatedly. There is no water vapor and there are very few trachoma. The iron fan water cooling is the greatest weapon for the time traveler to forge cannons! Well, iron molding is relatively easy, and the metal craftsmanship of the Ming and Qing Dynasties is about enough. Water cooling requires a very high technical level, which should not be finally realized until modern times. The most important thing is that I don’t have iron in my hands now. "

Shulot shook his head. He sorted out the art of casting cannons in his mind for a moment and then ordered.

"Tiripi, mark my words! In addition to increasing the drying time of the clay mold and polishing the inner wall of the barrel, the body of the Condor Cannon can also be thickened again, and the amount of bronze used can be increased from 250 kilograms to 300 kilograms! Wait until the casting is completed , if there is no water leakage, add five copper hoops to reinforce the gun body! Qualified bronze artillery should also be equipped with claw nails and copper trippers for fixation during firing! "

Bertard had already taken out the pen and paper, drawing the internal polishing, thickening of the gun barrel, five copper hoops and fixed accessories, and then handed the paper drawing to Chalape. Chalape smiled gratefully, and the warrior commander smiled back gently.

After talking about the key points of craftsmanship, Shulot thought for a moment, and a sentence in his memory came to his mind.

"If a cannon is cast from a clay mold, and the caster gets two or three out of ten, he will be called a national expert!"

Although I don’t know what era this sentence comes from, the size of the cast cannon, and whether it refers to the bronze cannon or the iron cannon, we can still get a glimpse of the difficulty of casting the cannon. For American civilization, when exploring cannon casting in the early stage, only sufficient quantity can be used to randomly obtain qualified quality.

Thinking of this, Shulot made up his mind and solemnly gave the order.

"Chalape, Tiripi, follow the order!"

Hearing these familiar words, Chalape's knees shook and he once again pulled his clan brother to kneel on the ground.

"It takes time for the clay molds to dry in the shade. You have to work hard these days to make 40 clay molds for the Condor Cannon first!"

Tilipi was shocked when he heard this. He looked at the king in front of him and asked in shock.

"Your Majesty, 40 clay molds for the Condor Cannon! Each 300 kilograms of bronze, that's 12,000 kilograms! Plus the 48,000 kilograms of bronze armor cast, that's 60,000 kilograms of bronze! The bronze warehouse in the warehouse has accumulated In a few years, it is less than half of this amount, and this does not include the consumption of a large number of bronze farm tools."

"Tiripi, this is the king's order!"

Shulot interrupted the casting master and scolded him sternly.

"You can work as hard as you can! As for the bronze ore, I will start to solve it next, and it will not delay the production of the workshop!"

There was an instant silence in the workshop, everyone lowered their heads and obeyed the king's will.

"Tiripi, as long as you can successfully build 5 usable clay molds of 40 condor cannons, you will be considered qualified! If you can build 10, I will promote you to a military noble and let the metal family have one gun and two expensive!"

The king said calmly, and then his expression became serious.

"If by February next year, you haven't even built five qualified condor cannons, then prepare to face the military law of the alliance and sacrifice yourself to the Lord God!"

Hearing the king's order, Tilipi was delighted at first, and then beads of sweat oozed from his forehead. He knelt on the ground and spoke with difficulty after a long while.

"Your Majesty, I obey your order and am willing to die for you!"

"Well, good!"

Xuluot watched for a moment and nodded slowly. Then, he looked at the master craftsmen kneeling in front of him with an extremely serious expression, and his words could not be disobeyed.

"Charap, Tilipi, your task is very heavy! I will give you another hundred coppersmiths captured in Ivachio! These four hundred coppersmiths will arrive within two days. There are also two hundred warriors escorting them, who will be stationed around the workshop to strictly protect your safety."

The so-called stationing protection naturally has other meanings. After taking on the task of the bronze cannon, the bronze workshop became the most confidential military stronghold in the sealed country, and it was also the most important place in the entire Americas!

"From today on, the bronze workshop will be expanded, the number of people will be increased, and an additional wall will be built. All craftsmen will be incorporated into the Kingdom Legion and will be subject to military law! No one is allowed to leave the craftsmen's camp without permission!"

"Tiripi, cannon casting is related to the future of the alliance and the survival of the world. You have a heavy burden given by the gods, and you need to devote all your energy and study it wholeheartedly. If you can continue to improve in cannon casting, I will promise you a future as a hereditary noble!"

The king's voice became gentle. He gently patted the master casting master on the shoulder, and a smile that made the other party tremble appeared on his face again.

"It takes four months for the clay mold of the Condor Cannon to dry in the shade. During this period, you need more practice and attempts. Well, here is another cannon drawing, you can go back and study it. This cannon is only 40 cm long, 4 cm in diameter, and a little more than 10 cm in outer diameter. It is short and thin, and weighs only a quarter of the Condor Cannon. It is estimated that it will only take one month for the clay mold to dry in the shade, and the difficulty will be much less than that of the Condor Cannon. I will give you two months to make the first sample cannon!"

"Ah, I obey your will. Your Majesty, what should this cannon be called?"

"Well, the alliance has eagle warriors and tiger warriors. Eagle warriors are the legion of the sun god, and tiger warriors are the legion of the rain god. The eagle soars in the sky, and the tiger crouches in the forest. Since there is the sun god eagle cannon, the name of this cannon is called the rain god tiger crouching cannon!"