Chapter 694: Bad news one after another

Luo Chong received You Ye's letter very quickly. He was pleasantly surprised when he read the first part, but he started to hesitate when he read the latter part.

He was not against You Ye setting up a temporary base outside, but temporary is temporary after all. Sooner or later, they will all move back to the Han tribe. The location of the temporary base is too far away from the Han tribe and is not suitable for long-term operation. The current Han tribe does not have the ability to control so far away. The land around it has not been developed yet. Why go so far?

Since it is temporary, it has no value for long-term investment. Even if the materials are sent there now, they will have to be transported back in a short time. It will be a waste of manpower and material resources.

But it still has to be given. Luo Chong did not expect to get so many people there. The Han tribe has developed to the present, and the resources can be said to be sufficient. Even if there are other things, he has no ability to develop them, such as oil. It is useless to ask for that thing, and he can't pump it himself.

However, Luo Chong would never give up the human resources, as many as they could. In the low-capacity era without power machinery, population was the primary productive force. Without sufficient population, nothing could be done. Therefore, since this temporary base could still serve the purpose of plundering the population, it could not be easily abandoned.

Seeds, no problem, just a little food, the Han tribe did not feel bad and could afford it. Considering the geographical climate and environment of the temporary camp, Luo Chong gave more corn and less rice. Since it was a river valley, there must be a place to grow rice, but corn had a higher yield and was more adaptable, so it was safer to give more corn.

Luo Chong also distributed some other beans and vegetable seeds so that they could be temporarily self-sufficient.

Farm tools, this was also easy to handle. The Han tribe now had a lot of steel, which was too much to use up. If there were no ready-made farm tools, they could just give them iron, and then send some craftsmen and tools to make them on the spot when they arrived.

However, they could not give them livestock. It was difficult to transport cattle and horses over long distances. Besides, the Han tribe did not have many domesticated livestock that could be used for farming. If they had more, Luo Chong would like to cultivate a few more acres of fertile land in the Han tribe's territory.

There was no shortage of food supplies. They made their own pottery bowls, but iron pots were very much needed. The Han tribe did not lack those hundreds of pots, so Luo Chong agreed.

Another large amount of supplies was cloth. They were in great need of clothes. Winter was coming soon. It was okay to wear animal skins at this time, but when spring came next year, most people would have to go naked.

However, most of the cloth of the Han tribe was exported to the grasslands and Zhudao. It was not realistic to mobilize so much cloth now. It was okay to give them some, and then give them a few looms and cotton and linen seeds, so that they could weave cloth themselves. They could not rely on the Han tribe for everything.

The last item was to ask Luo Chong for people, which was also where Youye was more capable.

Although You Ye was temporarily in charge of all the affairs of the temporary camp, he actually did not manage anything. He still went out and wandered around every day. All the affairs of the camp were assigned to the patriarchs of the survivors. This would not work and would not be conducive to the control of the Han tribe over them.

You Ye himself knew this, so he asked Luo Chong for people, craftsmen, teachers, and even officials to help manage the specific affairs of the temporary camp.

In this way, You Ye could feel at ease when he went out, and Luo Chong could also take this opportunity to place his own people. Luo Chong could also feel at ease. Both parties tacitly finalized the matter.

After the list of materials was listed, Luo Chong immediately asked people to prepare. As for the personnel who were going there this time, they were recommended by the officials below. Luo Chong could not know all the people in the Han tribe. Anyway, as long as there were his own confidants, such as the people of the Jinwu Guard, it would be fine.

The Jinwu Guard developed very quickly in You Zhi's hands. Of course, this was also inseparable from Luo Chong's help and guidance, such as accepting orphans who had just joined the tribe and then intensively training them, which was a stable source of members.

There were actually a lot of wild people or orphans from small tribes who joined the Han tribe, because when they relied on hunting and gathering for a living, it was normal for people to die, and there were as many orphans as they wanted.

Now these people have spread all over the fields of the Han tribe, including craftsmen of various professions, students and teachers in schools, soldiers in the army, sailors in the fleet, street vendors, and even herdsmen on the grassland. Jinwuwei has developed some external personnel to form a huge intelligence network.

Some external members don't even know what organization they belong to. For example, some herdsmen on the grassland only know that people from the Han tribe pay them to find out information. Since they have money, they can say anything, but they don't know where the information is sold and to whom.

In addition to You Zhi's list of Jinwuwei, Luo Chong also has a list. Luo Chong has selected the people he needs and then has people notify them one by one.

After selecting the materials and personnel, the fleet for transportation should also be prepared in advance. Once these ships go there, they will not come back in a short time. The crew members should also stay there to facilitate Youye's actions. With stronger mobility, he will be able to do more things in the future.

As for the problem of not knowing the way, this is easy to solve. Youye has given a good suggestion. The fleet transporting materials and personnel only needs to go north directly from Ruyang River to the Sancha River Mouth that they have been to before. Youye will also send the ship he is responsible for. The two sides will meet at the Sancha River Mouth, and then Youye will lead them there.

This time, a total of five early-model two-masted sailing ships and a new three-masted building ship were sent, mainly for the accompanying personnel to live. According to the information provided by Youye, the waterway they chose is completely suitable for three-masted sailing ships to travel. Luo Chong also asked the personnel sent this time to make an agreement and let them not worry about safety issues.

It took Luo Chong a week after receiving the letter to arrange all this matter and send the materials and personnel on board.

During this week, the Han tribe not only completed the delivery of materials, but the woodworking workshop in Hanyang City also made the artillery model that Luo Chong wanted, and also a set of wooden models of the same scale as the iron molds, so that the molds could be easily cast.

Luo Chong was naturally overjoyed after getting these models, and hurriedly took the things to Xingang County, where he would personally preside over the cannon casting process and technology.

However, just as he was excitedly directing people to make iron molds for cannon casting, an expedited letter marked as top secret was delivered to Luo Chong.

The letter was sent by You Zhi, and the content came from the intelligence channel of Jinwuwei itself. It wrote about a series of matters about the arrest of Xin tribe Shang elder Niu Wei.

This incident was undoubtedly a heavy bomb for the Han tribe and Luo Chong, disrupting Luo Chong's original plan.

Just when he was still thinking about what to do, the next day, another letter was delivered to Luo Chong. This time it was sent by the Beast Fang in Zhudao. The content of the letter made Luo Chong frown deeply, because it actually said that the Xin tribe strictly ordered the delegation not to promote the use of currency in Zhudao.

Niu Wei was arrested, currency ban, what happened to Zhudao, what did the Xin tribe think, are they going to turn against the Han tribe?

Luo Chong frowned, and his mood suddenly became bad. He looked at the cannon mold that was about to be cast next to him, and couldn't help squinting his eyes.

He wrote two letters in reply, asking the two to send back more information they knew, and then he continued to concentrate on directing the cannon casting.

There is not much information now, and Luo Chong doesn't know how to deal with this matter appropriately, but no matter what happens in the future, having enough force in hand to deter others is the most effective.

Caliber is justice, and range is truth.

It's a pity that there is no power machine tool now, otherwise the breech-loading rifled cannon that launches grenades can also be tried.

It took nearly two days for Xingang County to complete more than a dozen sets of iron molds. Yes, there are more than a dozen sets of molds alone. This is mainly to consume the molten steel in the crucible at one time, otherwise it will have to be heated again, which is too wasteful of fuel. As for iron, the Han tribe doesn't lack it anyway.

After getting a group of people to polish the mold, Xingangjun began the cannon casting experiment that day.

First, the iron mold was placed in the fire to bake and preheat, and then a layer of wax liquid was applied on it, and then a layer of molding sand was sprinkled on it, and then baked again to dry the thin film formed by the mixture of wax liquid and molding sand, so that it would be easier to separate the cannon and the mold when demolding

. After it was completely dried, the shell mold and the core rod mold were assembled and fixed with a bracket, leaving a hollow gun body space. When the molten steel was heated, it could be directly cast.

The molds waiting for casting were arranged in a row, and cast iron rails were laid on the ground next to them. At this time, a small cart with iron wheels was also pushed over.

On the top of the cart was a hoisting bracket, and on the base below was a full crucible of molten steel.

The cart stopped in front of the first mold, and the foundry workers began to adjust the casting angle, and then pulled the iron chain on the pulley with a clatter, lifting the entire crucible, and the other pulled the iron chain and pulley behind to start tilting the crucible.

Chi——

Molten steel poured down from the outlet of the crucible and poured into the cannon mold accurately. When the inlet and outlet of the mold were all filled with orange-yellow molten steel, the cart was pushed to the next mold, and then the operation was repeated continuously until the entire crucible of molten steel was used up. In the end, there was not enough left to cast one, so it was directly cast into ingots for future tool making.

After the casting was completed, the workers began to knock on the outer shell of the mold with iron bars, making a series of clanging sounds.

This was to knock on the mold to make it vibrate while the molten steel had not solidified yet, and then let the bubbles that might exist inside be discharged upwards. However, this iron mold casting cannon method basically does not produce bubbles. Luo Chong's arrangement was just a psychological effect, just in case.

When the orange-yellow molten steel cooled down and solidified into a reddish color, and began to darken in color, Luo Chong began to order the core-cooled barrel quenching process.

The core mold in the barrel is hollow, and there is a U-shaped tube inside. One end of the tube protrudes outward, so that water can be put outside the shell mold. The other end is a water inlet that is one section higher than the core mold. This design makes the two openings one high and one low, so that cold water can be continuously poured in based on the principle of pressure difference, which can cool quickly without getting the mold itself wet.

The craftsmen quickly took out the funnel that had been prepared long ago, inserted it into the water inlet of the core mold, and then used a cart to push cold water close to zero degrees, and began to pour it into the mold.

The temperature of the core mold was quickly lowered, and the color of the cannon was darkening at a speed visible to the naked eye, and it was darkening layer by layer from the inside to the outside. This was the effect Luo Chong wanted. Because the inner layer was cooled first, the barrel would first undergo the effect of thermal expansion and contraction, causing the entire barrel to show an inward tightening stress.

Listening to the clicking sound, Luo Chong could even feel how much the core mold was squeezed, which showed that the barrel was indeed tightening.

When the outermost layer of the gun barrel was about to turn black and cool, Luo Chong hurriedly stopped the craftsmen who were pouring water, and then began to order demoulding and polishing the gun barrel. At this time, the outer wall of the gun barrel had not yet completely cooled, which was the best time to polish it. Of course, the tool for polishing was an iron brush, not a stone or hand.

After simply polishing the gun barrel, it could be placed in the sand pit to cool naturally.

Looking at the row of black guns in the sand pit of the casting workshop, Luo Chong couldn't help but feel proud. With this thing, the Xin tribe, Zhudao, and grassland would all be blown up to the sky by him.

It was not until the second day after the casting was completed that Luo Chong ordered the core mold in the gun barrel to be removed. Of course, it was impossible to pull it out by manpower. The final core cooling process made the gun barrel shrink very tightly, almost locking the core mold, so the process of demoulding the gun barrel had to use equipment.

The gun body was fixed horizontally on the ground. The two gun ears, tail ball and the rear half of the barrel were firmly locked with iron chains. On the other side, two movable pulleys were tied to the core mold with iron chains. Then several people pulled the iron chains at the same time, and two people squatted at the muzzle and used thin iron wire to clean the molding sand and wax blocks at the joints. It took more than half an hour to take out the core mold of a gun.

Although it seems troublesome to do this, the quality of the artillery is definitely the top technology in the front-loading smoothbore. The material is cast steel, which is lighter and more durable than bronze, and stronger than pig iron and wrought iron. In addition, because of the use of all-iron molds, both the inner wall of the barrel and the outer wall of the barrel look very smooth. As long as they are polished a little bit, they can be used directly.

It was at this time that the second detailed information from Shouya and Youzhi was delivered to Luo Chong.

(End of this chapter)