Asia's largest iron plant stands on the right bank of the Yangtze River. Compared with the later Ma'anshan City, this place is closer to the south. The iron plant is extremely large, with a towering blast furnace and brilliant lights. In the hazy moonlight, the entire factory is like an ancient ferocious beast, entrenched more than 80 kilometers from Nanjing City... However, the governor of Liangjiang Duan Fang was very cautious about the iron plant. Several battalions of Qing troops were stationed in Caishiji, not far from this place.

Yuntaishan is called "protecting iron factory". He is even more afraid that the iron factory will build guns and cannons, so he will send people to the factory to investigate from time to time. As for the secret spies among the workers, there are quite a few. He has to use the revolutionary party's money, but he has to prevent the revolutionary party from causing trouble. This is what the Governor thought. Therefore, after he heard that Du Yaquan was the general manager of the iron factory, he specially rewarded Du Yaquan with a mansion in Jiangning City so that he could place his family in Jiangning City.

All these actions finally made Duan Fang feel at ease with the iron factory. He also personally congratulated the iron factory at the iron ceremony a few months ago. While affirming the iron factory's performance, he also delivered a speech on uniting the Manchu and Han Dynasty to promote production and build a new society harmoniously, which aroused praise from the gentry on the spot. After this, the Hui merchants who had the money to invest in the iron factory also urged Du Yaquan to submit a memorable letter. In addition to thanking the emperor for thanking the court, he also guaranteed that the iron factory would strictly investigate the rebellion and would always contribute to the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty.

It would be fine to write official articles. Ma'anshan Iron Factory did not mean to be the base camp of the revolution, and Yang Rui did not like to have revolutions in the iron factory. The blast furnaces and machines in the factory were bought for a lot of money. Once a few shells came, they would be all finished. The layout near Ma'anshan is nothing more than an airship landing ground. But that was in the southwest direction.

"Is there any problem with the airship?" Smelling the bituminous coal smell of the iron plant, Yang Rui did not look at the iron plant, but looked at the mountains in the southwest. Yanzhou base had endless ammunition. He had always worried that the Qing Dynasty would circumvent the Yanzhou base area to investigate the traffic secret passages, especially now that the base area has been expanded to Xuancheng, which is more than 100 kilometers from Xuancheng to Ma'anshan. With the background of the sky-sized line, even if the airship flies higher now, Yang Rui was still worried that the landing site would be difficult to keep a secret, such a big thing. The moonlight is brighter and it can still be seen farther away at night.

"There is basically no problem," Du Yaquan said, "There are no people in any place I chose, and we have designated it as a mining area. The families inside have also moved away. At night, a big thing flew out of the mountain depression, and not many people can pay attention to it. Besides, we have also monitored the 20 or 30 miles away from the mining area. Those men and children either entered the factory or entered the school. Even if they found something, they could control it."

Seeing that he was so confident, Yang Rui asked with a smile: "Aren't you afraid of a few loyal and patriotic parties in it? Such gentry is not that easy to deal with."

"The gentry all live in the city, so no gentry lives in the countryside. The people will be scared by scaring them. As long as the monks and Taoists say something, they will believe it. The countrymen are like this." In terms of revolution, Du Yaquan was not worried about the confidentiality of the airship, but about another incident. "It was done. Most of the machines in Factory II were transported in. But the water press was too big and even more conspicuous. If you want to transport it to Huainan, it would still be too conspicuous."

The Second Factory is the Second Army factory, which is located near Bagong Mountain in Huainan. The reason why the military factory is located there is not only confidential, but the iron ore in Ma'anshan has heavy sulfur and phosphorus content. The Second Army factory is to try to build artillery. The requirements for sulfur removal and phosphorus removal are relatively high during the smelting of cannon steel. The raw materials used in the military factory do not come from Ma'anshan, but from Huoqiu iron ore. There is magnetite ore instead of pyrote. The thiophosphate content is very small. After refining, it can be used as a base material for making cannons. However, the raw materials are solved, but the tools are difficult to solve. The steel embryos for making cannons must be continuously forged with a water press to make the steel more tight and make the gun barrel more tough. There is a 2,000-ton water press in the Shanghai Jiangnan Bureau, which is a necessary machine for making cannons.

"Too big, how big is it? Isn't there a small railway now?" Yang Rui had no idea about the 2,000-ton hydraulic press, and remembered that there was a 1,000-ton hydraulic press after liberation. That was just on the picture, and he didn't understand how big it was.

"Oh," Du Yaquan shook his head. Yang Rui had never been to the Jiangnan Bureau. He didn't understand how big the big thing was. He had to say: "It's not as big as outside the house. It was because of the smuggling of opium, private salt, the Jiang defense team and the customs were all checked tightly. Once the water press was transported in, it was seen by others. Everyone knew exactly what this thing could do and what we were going to do. Not to mention the water press, those lathes were all in batches, and it took two years to transport them in under the name of building railways and steel mills. Without this name, those machines would never be transported in."

"Without a water press, wouldn't the gun barrel be built?" Yang Rui was a little disappointed at this time. Could it be that his soldiers were killed by mortars? The Qing Dynasty is becoming more and more cunning. After the Sixth Town was destroyed, all the newly sent troops used 75mm mountain cannons, as well as the 57 and 37 guns from the Hanyang Factory. In addition to being more suitable for mountain combat accidents, these artillery cannons can prevent the capture of the Revolutionary Army. Once the Revolutionary Army breaks out of the mountainous areas, the Qing Dynasty's field cannons can also restrain the Revolutionary Army's mountain cannons. Now even if Hangzhou wins the Sixth Town field cannons, the total of all the field cannons of the Fuxing Army is only more than 70, which is only equivalent to the number of two towns of the New Army. Except for forty or fifty mountain cannons, the rest are all mortars.

"The 75mm caliber can use fifty-ton gas hammers. The Krupp's mountain cannon imitated by the Jiangnan Bureau of Shanghai was forged with fifty-ton gas hammers. The cannons made are still qualified. However, the initial speed of the field cannon is twice that of the mountain cannon, and the diameter must reach twenty-nine, which is no more than the fourteenth diameter of the mountain cannon. Now it is being tried. I will take you to see it tomorrow." Du Yaquan said.

Du Yaquan took Yang Rui and others to Wuhu ferry before dawn the next morning, and then took the coal transport train to Hefei to Huainan. The railway was more than 200 kilometers, and it was only in the evening when it was late. After a day of rest, the group took a small train to the mountains. This was to Bagong Mountain, more than ten miles southwest of Huainan County. It was previously advertised by the iron plant that there was a coal mine. In the past two years, many foreign machines for repairing coal mines were transported from outside. Several coal wells were also opened, but less than half a year of construction, they said that the coal here was not as good as other places. The people who came evacuated, and only a large factory was left here. Except for someone watching the things inside, there was little movement.

It took two hundred miles from Ma'anshan, and it was very difficult to walk in the wind and snow. The train mileage was running around the east and the face was much tanned this year. She thought she would go back to Shanghai to celebrate the New Year when she went to the iron plant, but she didn't expect to go north even more. Looking at the constant snow outside, she only asked with a smile: "Will you go to that sacred mountain again?"

"There is no sacred mountain. Go to a coal mine, an extremely important place." Yang Rui was extremely disliked by the wind and snowy nights outside. Last year's Spring Festival was spent in the United States, and this year he wanted to spend it in Shanghai. The New Year atmosphere in this era is much heavier than in later generations. But now it is only twelve or thirteen days before the New Year. I really don't know if it will be on the road again. "I said that you should go to Shanghai to wait for me, and follow me just to run around, and it's very human."

In Cheng Lu's opinion, the man's blame was just a kind of concern. When she heard this, she just leaned her body tighter. Yang Rui was about to speak but heard someone shouting in front of him that he had arrived at Bagong Mountain and the Second Army Factory was only a few miles away. After leaving some people with low confidentiality level in the inn, the group drove lightly and arrived at the place soon.

In order to fear the surprise of the local people, the Second Army Factory selected many people in the pass, not all overseas Chinese in Guangdong. The person in charge of this factory was Xu Jiabao. As for Rong Jinhuai's poor Chinese, many foreign languages ​​came out as soon as he spoke, and he didn't understand the situation in China. So after several considerations, Yang Rui appointed Xu Jiabao as the chief engineer of the Second Factory, while Rong Jinhuai became the chief engineer of the First Factory. However, the Second Army Factory was much larger than the First Military Factory, and it involved breech gun casting, and the level was naturally one level higher than outside the Pass.

"Brother Xianting, we're meeting again." At the entrance of the military factory, Yang Rui felt very intimate when he looked at Xu Jiabao with long braids. He had seen him three times, and each time was a little different.

"It's really here. OK! Please." Xu Jiabao also smiled kindly. From inside and outside the pass, he was busy. The scale of the Revival Society was getting bigger and bigger, and as one of them, he looked happy.

Unlike outside the gate, the Second Military Factory was built underground. In order to build this underground factory, many construction workers were transferred from outside the gate in the name of railway construction workers. In addition to being underground, the power of the military factory was no longer a steam engine, but was driven by the sky rod, but directly used electricity. A small dam was built in a small river west of the factory, and the installed hydroelectric generators could continuously transport electricity. But even so, the factory still had to use some coal, which could only come in from outside through a small train. Although the coal mine was not produced, there were still people guarding the factory.

Xu Jiabao took Yang Rui down to the tunnel and said as he walked: "This factory was so hard to build. If it weren't for those soldiers, I'm afraid it wouldn't have been built like this."

Those who were transferred to the construction outside the pass were all the Fuxing Army soldiers who had joined the association. Yang Rui agreed with him and said, "Yes. The pass is not as good as outside the pass, and it cannot be absolutely confidential, so there will be big trouble. Have the people from Duanfang come to investigate?"

"I have investigated. He looked for the people from the Nanjing Guns and Cannon Bureau to see the entire iron plant and coal mine. The people here have also visited them. But when they saw that the boilers outside were not only small, but also broken, they knew that there was nothing but mining coal. They still had old ideas and didn't understand that even without a steam engine, the motor could be used." Xu Jiabao said with some regret. Some of those who came to investigate were his previous colleagues. Now everyone divided them into two ways, and they sighed.

"Yanzhou is a good fight, so I will investigate the source of the arms of the Qing Dynasty. Brother Xianting, it is better to be careful here. Keeping confidential is the first priority..." Even with the lantern, the tunnel was dim. However, when Yang Rui was talking, Xu Jiabao, who was leading the way, turned around, and a sensation light came from the front. The factory should have the mechanical sound, the sound of the bullet-making machine pounding copper plates, and the sound of the entire underground factory shaking a little. Du Yaquan, who was with the same person, listened to the sound of the sound of the sound of the gun making, and said to Yang Rui: "That is the hammer of the gun making is forging the gun body."

The Second Army factory was placed underground, and the machines were arranged very tightly. The forging workshop Du Yaquan said was only in another hall. Yang Rui was not interested in ordinary guns and ammunition, so he went directly to the forging place. He turned along the passage not far away. He saw a steel rod more than two meters long hanging in a hall under a tall crane. The steel rod was burned red and white by the gas stove earlier, and was only placed on the forging table and was hit hard by a huge air hammer. After each impact, the position of the steel rod was changed a little by a worker wearing a protective suit to prevent a place from being hammered twice. Once the steel rod was hammered from beginning to end, the iron chain was adjusted. The steel rod changed to an angle and then placed on the forging table to receive hammering.

"This is a fifty-ton air hammer." Du Yaquan said, "That crane was transported in after it was dismantled. The water press was several times larger than this one. The thing was dismantled, and those beams were also very annoying, and the train carriage could not be put down."

In the workshop with extremely warm and choking smell of coal smoke. Yang Rui watched the scene and did not move for a long time. He always wanted to build the cannon. But he knew that it was not that easy to fiddle with. Even the Qing Dynasty only imitated the 75mm Krupp mountain cannon a few years ago. Although the Fuxing Association was rich, there was no one, and there was no machine. It was still extremely difficult to build this thing. Therefore, the Liaodong military factory had never thought about building a breech gun, but only planned to build a mortar, just waiting for the Second Military Factory.

When the construction started, Yang Rui estimated that there were many talents who had been trained, and the matter of making breech guns was raised. But even so, he was still negative about whether he could build a gun. According to articles browsing online, he did not know whether it was right or wrong. It is said that the gun steel was not built in the Northeast Arsenal until 31 years, and the September 18th Incident was created. He had heard a lot of such messy jokes, and now he saw the red steel rod that was constantly hammered under the air hammer, which only made him a little stunned.

"Is this our own?" Yang Rui spoke for a long time, a little confused, "Didn't it be imported?"

"We originally wanted to use Haimota pig iron, but now our own pig iron can reach the quality, so we use our own pig iron. The scrap steel is also from our factory, so we need to add Nigel and some other auxiliary materials. "Du Yaquan didn't understand what Yang Rui meant, but Xu Jiabao understood that Yang Rui was concerned about the issue of domestic yield. Usually this thing doesn't seem important, but once we start a war with foreign countries, it will be fatal. However, when he just said that the cannon steel can be made by himself, he only let Yang Rui breathe a sigh of relief, the next sentence raised Yang Rui's heart.

"It's really done. It's easy to build cannon steel, but it's difficult to build springs!" Xu Jiabao led Yang Rui to move to the next workshop, walking and walking.

"It's difficult to make springs?" After hearing this, Yang Rui thought of a book I had read before, saying how important the spring on the shell fuze was, but he couldn't expect that he had encountered this problem. He said in surprise: "Isn't this already solved in Liaodong? The shells over there..."

"No. I'm not talking about the springs used on shells, but the springs used on the machine for the retracting and retracting. Two years ago, when the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau in Shanghai imitated the Krupp 12-pound mountain cannon, the entire cannon could be made by itself anywhere. Only the retracting spring could not be made, and in the end I could only buy it from the United States. Then I wonder if the spring could be made, so that the whole cannon was made of our own things." Xu Jiabao said, with a very rigorous expression, just thinking that this was a great event.

"Is the spring so difficult to build?" Yang Rui looked at him so seriously and asked. Then he was attracted by the things in the workshop. A two-meter-long hollow cannon barrel was clamped by a huge clamp, aiming at a slender cannon barrel and then put it in. The direction of the cannon barrel was from thin to thick. It was very convenient at the beginning, and the more it was put at the bottom, the more difficult it was. However, the two cannon barrels were all worn out, and the size was excellent. The red hot cannon barrel was finally completely set on the small cannon barrel. Yang Rui couldn't help but ask: "Brother Xianting, is this the body tube tightening?"

"Yes. This is the self-tightening method. In the past, it was a hoop, one after another, but now it is a whole section. Once it gets cold, the two sections will be integrated. In fact, it is just a method to build a pipe-retarded fast cannon. After all, this kind of pipe-retarded cannon fire at a fast speed and a high chamber pressure. Only in this way can it be safe." Knowing that Yang Rui had never seen how to build a breech gun, Xu Jiabao did not talk about the springs, but only introduced the self-tightening method.

Seeing the dark red cannon tube being adjusted aside, Yang Rui came to his senses and said, "Brother Xianting said just now that springs are more difficult to build than cannon steel? Where do you start?"

"Boil steel is nothing more than removing sulfur and phosphorus, plus nickel, and forging and self-tightening. This is not difficult to build. The key is that the cost is not as low as that of foreigners. If the spring is to be made, the first thing is that the steel that is refined cannot be mixed with debris. Once there are debris, the spring will be not durable. The hardness of the spring is a problem. If the steel contains more carbon, the harder the steel will be. However, there is too much carbon in the steel, and its quenching ability will be small. It can only be cooled with water during quenching, which is easy to produce cracks. In addition, the surface must not be damaged during processing. The fracture of the spring is basically at the damaged place..." Xu Jiabao looked solemn, and he explained the difficulty of the spring to Yang Rui one by one.

He has studied it, and the more questions he has spoken, and more and more proprietary words he has to say. Seeing that he is like this, Yang Rui had to laugh and said, "Brother Xianting, this matter cannot be solved in just one go. If you want to study this spring, then study it. I will try to find a way to transport the funds and machines you need. Although you are remote, there is a railway. Even if the railway cannot be transported in, the airship will help you transport it in."

Seeing that Yang Rui really attached importance to the spring, Xu Jiabao felt relieved. He was afraid that Yang Rui would think it would be a good thing when he saw the cannon. "Okay, it's done. I'll give you a report in the future."

At this time, everyone happened to go to the assembly workshop. The two guns were installed and placed on one side, while the other was being installed. This was completely a Krupp mountain cannon, but the gun mount had made some changes.

"We have changed the Krupp Mountain Cannon. The main change is on the gun stand. The previous high and low shooting range was only fifteen degrees, but now it is changed to thirty-eight degrees. This allows you to bending the fire instead of digging the pit on the spot." Xu Jiabao said that Yang Rui wanted to laugh when he talked about digging the pit. The original artillery was mostly aimed directly, and the high and low shooting range was too short. Now that the inter-sight was aimed, the elevation angle could be increased to obtain a longer range. Xu Jiabao did not notice Yang Rui's smile, and then introduced: "In addition to the change in the elevation angle, the barrel was longer than before. It used to be fourteen times the diameter, but now it is seventeen times the diameter. The initial velocity of the shells was increased from the original 280 meters to the current 300 meters, but the weight has also increased by more than 240 kilograms. After this modification, the range was increased to 5,500 meters, which is only 500 meters away from the Krupp field cannon equipped by the new army."

Hearing that he was only five hundred meters away from the field cannon, Yang Rui was not satisfied, but asked: "Brother Xianting, if the field cannon is increased, can it also increase the range? We only built the Krupp mountain cannon, but the Krupp field cannon was not built. Is there any technical problem?"

"If you can build orogenic cannons, you can build field cannons. The reason why the Jiangnan Bureau in Shanghai built orogenic cannons but not field cannons was because the south was not as dense as the north. The rivers in this place were mostly rural dirt roads. The field cannons weigh more than 2,000 kilograms, and it was extremely inconvenient to transport them when marching. And the mountain cannons, the old ones were only 800 kilograms, and the ones that have been modified now are only over 1,000 kilograms, and now they are designed to be split. At that time, the camels cannons cannons be on horses, and people can get there where the horses cannons cannons." Xu Jiabao said the advantages of mountain cannons and said again: "Also, field cannons are also being tried. The ones that were forged in the forging workshop were the barrels of field cannons. That was the second cannon, and the other one was being tried in the artillery factory."

Hearing that wild cannons can be made, Yang Rui smiled and said, "So, the only thing left is the cannon spring that cannot be produced by itself?"

"It's true, that's the spring." Xu Jiabao nodded. "Now I have thought of two methods, but they are both difficult. One is that the electroslag method you asked me to try before, but this method must be cooled to keep up, otherwise the furnace will still have to be burned; the other is the electric arc furnace. I saw the briefing sent by Xianyang that some people in Europe have used electric arc furnaces to make steel, and foreigners use this method to make alloy steel. The springs imported by the United States are also made of alloys. Although they do not know their composition, they can only try step by step."
Chapter completed!