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In several large shipyards, there was a bustling crowd. Nearly a thousand craftsmen of various kinds and more than two thousand young and strong laborers were busy doing their jobs.
Seeing this bustling scene, Qin Mu felt greatly relieved. He came to Yuezhou specifically for the warships and artillery.
Wu Jinxi pointed to the keel in the dock and said, "Sir, the six warships we are building now are all small Fuzhou ships of 400 tons. According to Sir Tang's suggestion, some adjustments have been made to the hull and mast, but the hull is stronger and the speed is faster. The total length of the ship is ten feet, the width is thirty feet, the depth is eight feet and a half, and it is equipped with double rudders, and can move freely in shallow water and deep water."
Qin Mu listened carefully. He knew little about shipbuilding and naval warfare, but he knew one thing: due to the insufficient firing rate and accuracy of artillery, the more artillery a warship is equipped with, the higher the hit rate will be in theory, and the stronger the combat effectiveness will be.
If you want to install more guns, you need a bigger ship to withstand the recoil of the guns.
The 400-ton small Fu ship was not very big. Qin Mu frowned and asked, "According to your design, how many guns can this 400-ton warship be equipped with?"
Wu Jinxi replied: "If it is a 1,000-jin Fulang machine gun, we can equip 20 of them and accommodate about 160 people."
Qin Mu intuitively felt that this equipment was too weak. The 20 thousand-jin Portuguese cannons were divided into the left and right sides, with only 10 guns on each side. In other words, in actual combat, only 10 shells could be fired at a salvo.
If used in naval battles, it is likely that not even a single bullet would hit the target in a single salvo.
As far as he knew, Western warships nowadays were often equipped with dozens or even hundreds of cannons. If we consider the sheer quantity, the enemy could hit you several times with a single salvo, which would be a huge loss for you.
However, fortunately, Qin Mu is not facing Western warships now.
Wu Jinxi seemed to understand Qin Mu's idea. He smiled and said, "Sir, at present our warships are mainly used for river defense. A warship of 400 tons can sail on the Yangtze River without any problem. Any larger will be inconvenient."
"I know, but shipbuilding technology requires a long-term accumulation process. We must gradually explore and accumulate it now."
"Don't worry, sir. In fact, we have the blueprints of the 1,000-ton Fuzhou ship. With the experience of building the 400-ton Fuzhou ship, it will be much easier to build a large ship of more than 1,000 tons in the future."
Qin Mu knew that these things could not be rushed. He nodded, and Wu Jinxi continued, "In addition to these six small Fu ships, we are also building a batch of bluffing ships, eagle ships, and sand ships. Sir, please see, these are the ones on the shore. Because the hull is relatively small, there is no need for a dock. After the hull is built on the shore, it can be rolled into the water with logs for outfitting."
"The bluffing boat also adopts the design of a pointed bottom and wide front. The bow and stern are the same, with a keel at the bottom, straight through the front and back, and a width of 10 feet. It is about 40 feet long, low in height, and has a draft of only 3 feet. There are 10 oars on each side, and sails are used when there is wind. When there is no wind, oars are used, or sails and oars can be used together, which is fast. It is easy to move forward and backward, which is conducive to chasing scouts."
"The sand ship is designed with a flat bottom and can be adjusted to face the wind and go in and out of the waves as if walking on flat ground. However, there is no barrier on the sand ship to block arrows and stones, so it is often used in conjunction with the eagle ship. The eagle ship has pointed ends and you can't tell the front and the tail. It is fast and has shields around the deck that can block arrows and stones. These shields are made of thatched bamboo nailed in rows, which is convenient for engaging the enemy. In battle, the eagle ship is often the vanguard, and the sand ship follows closely behind and rushes into the enemy fleet."
Wu Jinxi led Qin Mu through the hulls while explaining in detail. There were banging sounds all around, and Wu Jinxi had to shout loudly to ensure that Qin Mu could hear clearly.
From Wu Jinxi's more professional perspective, in inland river warfare, although gunboats are extremely powerful, they are limited by the depth of the waterways and sometimes may not be able to be used in actual combat.
Small warships such as bluff ships, eagle ships and sand ships can often play a greater role due to their shallow draft, flexible turning and high speed.
At the same time, these ships are smaller and can be built faster, so they can be built in large quantities in a short period of time.
After listening to Wu Jinxi's introduction, Qin Mu nodded frequently. He thought that if the historical context did not change too much, there would still be enough time for him to build a lot of warships.
"Hmm. How's the progress on the cannon casting?"
In addition to having ships, you also need guns, and guns are the key.
After Li Zicheng won several small victories in Zhending, the Qing army sent reinforcements and the Dashun Army began to lose ground again. Time was becoming more and more urgent for Qin Mu. Now, in addition to intensifying the training of the army, what he was most concerned about was equipment.
Among the craftsmen obtained from the court this time, some were casting craftsmen.
Within Qin Mu's sphere of influence, according to actual needs, the development and experimentation of firearms were mainly divided into two points, one in Changsha and the other in southern Jiangxi.
In terms of actual casting, there are more locations. In addition to southern Jiangxi and Changsha, there are also Pingxiang and Yueyang. However, the two casting sites in Pingxiang and Yueyang lack R&D capabilities, and mainly use some relatively mature technologies to manufacture some cannons and guns, as well as weapons such as Baihu Qiben Arrows.
Now that Tang Ruowang has joined Yueyang, the situation is different. The manufacturing workshops here will focus on casting red cannons and Portuguese cannons. Especially red cannons, other casting sites are not capable of casting.
Wu Jinxi brought Qin Mu to the foundry workshop in the north of the city. The workshop covered an area of dozens of acres, with a large open space outside and was closely guarded by soldiers.
When he entered the foundry workshop, he felt the oppressive heat and heard constant clanging sounds. Tang Ruowang was sweating all over. He held a towel in one hand and wiped his sweat while directing the craftsmen. When he saw Qin Mu, he was stunned for a moment before he reacted.
"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Tang." Qin Mu stepped forward and asked.
Tang Ruowang quickly stuffed the towel into the assistant's hand, stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Governor-General."
"Master Tang, there is no need to be so polite. How is the progress?"
Tang Ruowang pointed to the model behind him and said, "Please look, Governor General. This is the model of the Red Cannon. We have already cast one, and we are preparing to cast the second one."
When Qin Mu heard that it took so many days to cast one, the speed could really be described as a snail's pace. However, considering that the Red Cannon has a high technical content, it requires some special equipment and instruments to assist in coordination, and the requirements for each process are also extremely strict, so it is normal to be faster or slower.
Tang Ruowang had helped the court cast red cannons many times before, so with him, the technology was no longer a problem. But Qin Mu decided to only cast six red cannons for the time being. First, the red cannons were expensive, and second, they were very heavy and only suitable for some specific offensive battles. Casting too many would be a burden.
What Qin Mu wanted to cast in large quantities was the thousand-jin Portuguese cannon, which would be installed on warships.
The falconet cannon is inferior to the red cannon in range and power, but its advantage is its fast rate of fire. After the sub-guns are loaded in advance, the rate of fire can reach four to five rounds per minute.
More importantly, today's ships cannot withstand the recoil from too many red cannons.
Taking all these factors into consideration, although the falconet cannon is not the most powerful, it is the most suitable one at present.
What Qin Mu was concerned about was the material problem of casting the cannon. The main materials of the current Red Cannon are copper and iron, and it adopts an iron core and copper body design. If it is only copper, the tube body is too soft and it is easy to cause the barrel to expand. If it is only iron, the toughness is not enough and it is easy to explode.
However, this iron core and copper body design is not only expensive, but also makes the cannon extremely heavy. He had already asked craftsmen in Ganzhou to explore the material of the gun barrel.
"How is the tungsten steel being refined?" Qin Mu asked.
Wu Jinxi immediately replied, "According to your instructions, we have conducted trials in southern Jiangxi. We have recently produced some tungsten steel with high hardness and wear resistance. It can be used to make milling cutters, planers, and other steels. However, its most obvious disadvantage is that it is too brittle and too poor in toughness. Judging from the finished products so far, it is not suitable for making cannon barrels and gun barrels because it is too easy to explode."
A large amount of tungsten mines have long been discovered in the Dayuling area of Nan'an Prefecture, south of Ganzhou.
Qin Mu had heard of tungsten steel. It was said that tungsten steel had a series of excellent properties such as high hardness, wear resistance, good strength and toughness, heat resistance and corrosion resistance.
Qin Mu felt that since tungsten steel had so many characteristics, if it could be successfully refined, it should be able to be used to make gun barrels and cannon barrels.
But after hearing what Wu Jinxi said, Qin Mu couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He frowned slightly and said, "Let the craftsmen keep changing the ore ratio, or add other ores to the smelting. In short, keep trying."
"Don't worry, sir. We are already working on it. But I'm afraid this matter cannot be rushed. We have to go through it step by step."
.(To be continued..)
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