On the fertile soil of historical accumulation, human civilization continues to grow like a big tree. People's cognition level of the world is constantly improving, just 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 up, like the dense canopy under the sun, constantly moving towards the cutting-edge forks and subdivisions.

​

In Shilot's view, the progress of human technology is a tree-shaped network. Many technologies are straight forward and require a front-end as a cornerstone. Take the European hydraulic machinery of this era as an example, which requires excellent iron-making technology as a prerequisite, because copper and bronze lack toughness and elasticity, and cannot be used well for mechanical parts, such as fragile springs.

​

And some technologies are leaps across the ages, relying on the level of human cognition, just like the gunpowder that the alliance has used, and the current bronze artillery. They do not need iron tools as a foundation, and only need the guidance of a prophet-like divine revelation, and in the hands of American civilization, they can realize the leap of 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, or eagle cannon, cast according to his design.

​

In Europe in this era, the 1-pound eagle gun, as a classic light field gun, has just been born. It has the power to destroy all field enemies, with a maximum range of more than two and a half miles, and a precise range of more than two hundred meters. The Eagle Cannon weighs between 200 and 400 pounds and is maneuverable enough. It is the favorite of sailing explorers and elite infantry squads.

​

Chalape watched all the time, and when he saw the king's smile, he quickly pulled Tilippi's sleeve. Tilippy paused for a moment, and then he bravely stepped forward and explained carefully.

​

"Your Majesty, this is the Sun Condor cannon you asked us to cast. Its length is 1.2 meters, its internal caliber is 5 cm, it is made of 250 jin of bronze, and has a matching hardwood support... According to your instructions, at the gunpowder craftsman With the help of , in the witness of the paladin warrior chief, we conducted a test shooting... fire a 1 pound stone ball with 1 pound of gunpowder... the range is a little shorter than your request, the range is within the... range Around 50 meters..."

​

Tilippi's voice gradually became weaker, but it still clearly entered Shirot's ears. The king's smile suddenly solidified. He looked at Bertard, and the samurai captain nodded slightly. The king's hands were then clenched silently, and he asked in a deep voice.

​

"You say it again, what's the range?"

​

"...50 meters..."

​

Facing the chill in the king's eyes, Tilippi fell to his knees with a "pop". He exclaimed urgently.

​

"Your Majesty, the Knight Commander of the Holy Eagle can testify! We used the best bronze in sufficient quantity, and the clay model is fine enough. It's just that during the firing of the cannonball, the gun body will emit a cloud of smoke... The craftsmen who have built wooden cannons said that this is because the metal cannon body is not loved by the gods, which weakens the power of Thor. Only the wooden cannon body has life and can bear the power of the gods..."

​

"Smoke...leak..."

​

Shilot didn't get angry, and didn't care about the competition among the craftsmen. He just frowned and double-checked. In the outer wall of the bronze gun body, some small holes can be vaguely seen.

​

"Bring a bucket of water!"

​

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

​

"The trachoma on the gun barrel is small and uniform..."

​

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

​

"Take a copper rod!"

​

Shilot shouted again. Then, he personally shoved the copper rod into the muzzle, felt the slight bump and resistance on the lower inner wall, and nodded slightly.

​

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

​

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

​

"Tilippi, let me see your craftsmanship!"

​

Tilippi bowed his head respectfully. He obediently led the crowd to the place where the gun was cast, first pointing to a 1.2-meter wax pipe.

​

"Your Majesty, the following condor guns are still in the preparation stage. These are gun barrels made of wax blocks, the inner bore has been drilled out, and the overall size is the same as that of a real bronze gun barrel."

​

Xiuluo nodded his head. The lost-wax method is very common in metal craftsmanship in Central America.

​

"Your Majesty, after the wax cannon is made, it needs to be wrapped with clay and filled with clay, leaving only the feeding port at the end of the gun barrel. This is the clay mold. After the clay mold is completed, just heat it to let the wax inside When the tube is melted, you can get the formed clay mold barrel!"

​

Tilippi pointed to the two already formed clay molds and explained in detail.

​

"Your Majesty, I thought about it for a long time. According to the experience of casting bronze pots, the holes in the gun body leaked air and water. It should be that the drying time of the clay mold was not enough! We have never cast such a huge bronze utensil before, and the clay mold only dried one. It’s not even a month. This new row of condor cannons, please give your majesty a little more time, let us dry the mud film for three months!”

​

Hearing Tilippi's analysis and inference, Shiroute was surprised. He stared at the real casting master, and for the first time affirmed each other in his heart.

​

From the countless time-travel novels of later generations, Shulot knew that the biggest problem with the early cannon casting was that the clay mold used was not enough.

​

The clay mold of artillery has high requirements on humidity, soil and casting skills. The clay mold is 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 evaporated, which will produce honeycomb-shaped holes on the gun barrel, causing air leakage or even explosion when the gun is fired. Therefore, the moisture inside the clay mold needs to be naturally dried in the shade. With the increase in the poundage of the artillery, the time required to dry in the shade has also increased from several months to half a year. If the rainy season is very humid, the drying time will be further extended.

​

"Tilippi, your idea is very good! The previous few months were the rainy season with plenty of precipitation, the air was humid, and the mud film needed to dry longer. It is your responsibility to have problems with the prototype artillery, but it can be forgiven! It is raining now. Less September, the rainy season will end in the harvest October...I'll give you four more months to complete this batch of Condor Cannons!"

​

Hearing this, Tilippi was greatly relieved. Charape's face also showed joy. The two looked at each other and knelt down at the same time.

​

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

​

"Go ahead and finish the craft!"

​

Tilippi stood up, walked to the bronze furnace, and continued to speak.

​

"Your Majesty, after the clay mold of the gun barrel is completed, you can light the furnace to melt the bronze cast gun. You see, there is a deep pit next to the discharge port under the furnace, just for the clay mold. We will put The feeding port of the artillery clay mold is facing upwards, and it is placed in the soil pit..."

​

Tilippi waved as he spoke. The two apprentice craftsmen carefully placed the gun clay mold into the pit, with the muzzle facing up.

​

"Then, fill the soil pit, and then use clay to make a pottery tube connecting the discharge port of the furnace and the feeding port of the gun barrel mud mold, and guide the molten copper water to be injected... This step also needs to control the heat, The speed of the copper water should not be too fast, so as not to punch the core of the gun in the mud mold... Then wait for the copper water in the mud mold to cool naturally, take the mud mold out of the soil, and finally break it open to take the gun... "

​

Shulot patiently listened to the process of casting the cannon, recalling a few poorly understood nouns and fragments in his mind.

​

"Natural cooling... I seem to remember that there is a saying in casting guns, called water-cooling self-tightening, it should be made by hollowing the mold of the gun core and adding water to it, so that the barrel is cooled and tightened from the inside out, which greatly improves the Quality... No, the mud mold can't be filled with water, it should be an iron fan.

​

Tie Fan... The clay mold is a one-time use, so you have to smash it open to get the gun. The surface of the iron fan is smoother, can be used repeatedly, there is no water vapor, and there are very few trachoma. Tie Fan's water cooling is the big killer of the traverser's cannon! ...well, iron fan is relatively easy, and metal craftsmanship in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was about sufficient. Water cooling requires a very high technical level, and it should be finally realized in modern times. And the most important thing is... Now I have no iron in my hands. "

​

Shulot shook his head. He sorted out the craft of casting guns in his heart for a moment and commanded.

​

"Tilippi, remember my words! In addition to increasing the drying time of the clay mold and polishing the inner wall of the gun barrel, the gun body of the Condor gun can also be thickened again, and the amount of bronze has been increased from 250 to 300 pounds! Wait until the casting is completed. , If there is no water leakage, add five copper hoops to the gun body to strengthen it! Qualified bronze guns should also be equipped with claw nails and copper trips for fixing when firing!"

​

Bertard had already taken out the pen and paper, and drew the interior polishing, thickening of the gun body, five copper hoops and fixing accessories, and then handed the paper drawing to Chalape. Charape smiled gratefully, and the samurai chief smiled back gently.

​

After talking about the main points of the craftsmanship, Shulot pondered for a while, and a word from his memory came to his mind.

​

"Clay-moulded cannons, if they are cast out of ten, two or three, they are called national masters!"

​

Although I don't know what era this sentence came from, how big the cast gun was, whether it was a bronze gun or an iron gun, I still can see the difficulty of casting a gun. For the American civilization, in the early exploration of casting cannons, only enough quantities can be used to randomly qualify the quality.

​

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

​

"Chalape, Tilipe, obey!"

​

Hearing these familiar words, Chalape shook his knees and pulled his clan brother to his knees again.

​

"It takes time for the clay mold to dry in the shade. You have to work harder these days to make the clay mold of 40 Condor Cannons first!"

​

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

​

"Your Majesty, the clay molds of 40 condor cannons! Each 300 catties of bronze, that's 12,000 catties! Plus the 48,000 catties of cast bronze armor, that's 60,000 catties of bronze! The bronze warehouse in the warehouse has accumulated A few years, less than half of this amount, and that's not even counting the consumption of a large number of bronze farm tools..."

​

"Tilippi, this is Wang Ling!"

​

Shulot interrupted the casting master's words and sternly reprimanded.

​

"Although you are busy! As for the bronze ore, I will work on it next, and it will not delay the production of the workshop!"

​

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

​

"Tilippi, the clay model of 40 condor cannons, as long as you can successfully create 5 usable ones, you are considered qualified! If you can create 10, I will promote you to a military aristocrat, and let the metal family have two of them. expensive!"

​

The king said lightly, and then his face was chilled.

​

"If by February next year, you haven't even built 5 qualified condor cannons... Then prepare to face the military law of the alliance and sacrifice yourself to the Lord God!"

​

Hearing the king's will, Tilippi first looked happy, and then beads of sweat leaked from his forehead. He knelt down on the ground and spoke with difficulty after a long while.

​

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

​

"okay!"

​

Shirot watched for a moment, then nodded slowly. Afterwards, he looked at the master craftsmen kneeling in front of him, his expressions were extremely serious, and his words could not be violated.

​

"Charape, Tilipi, your task is very heavy! I will give you another hundred coppersmiths captured in Ivacio City! The four hundred coppersmiths will arrive within two days. There are two hundred warriors who will be stationed around the workshop to protect your safety."

​

The so-called garrison protection naturally also has other meanings~lightnovelpub.net~ After undertaking the task of the bronze gun, the bronze workshop has become the most secret military location in the feudal country, and it is also the most important place in the entire American world!

​

"From today onwards, the area of ​​the bronze workshop will be expanded, the number of people will be expanded, and a new wall will be built. All craftsmen will be included in the kingdom's army and will be managed by military law! Without permission, you are not allowed to leave the craftsman camp for half a step!"

​

"Tilippi, cannon casting is related to the future of the alliance and the survival of the world... You have a heavy burden from the gods, and you need to invest all your energy and study. If you can make continuous progress in cannon casting, I promise you the future of a hereditary noble!"

​

The king's voice softened. He gently tapped the forging master on the shoulder, and the smile that made him tremble again appeared on his face.

​

"It will take four months for the clay mold of the Condor Cannon to dry in the shade. During this time, you need more practice and experimentation. Well, here is another fire ** paper, you can go back and study it. The length of this cannon is only 40 cm, the caliber is 4 cm, and the outer diameter is slightly more than 10 cm. It is short and thin, only a quarter of the weight of the Condor Cannon, and the clay mold is estimated to only take a month to dry in the shade, which is much less difficult than the Condor Cannon... Give you two months to build the first prototype cannon!"

​

"Ah... according to your will. Your Majesty, what should you call this kind of artillery?"

​

"Well, there are eagle warriors and tiger warriors in the alliance. Eagle warriors are the army of the sun god, and tiger warriors are the army of the rain god. Condors soar in the sky, and tigers crouch in the forest. Since there is a sun condor cannon, this kind of The name of the cannon is the Rain God Tiger Crouching Cannon!"