Chapter 116 Cannon

February 7, 1902, the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month of the 28th year of Guangxu, New Year's Eve.

This winter seems to be colder than usual, and the riverside is covered with deep snow. However, due to the operation of the steam snowplow railway, it is still unimpeded. This is a meter-rail mining railway with a length of only more than 20 kilometers, connecting wharves, iron factories and mines.

Although it is a factory and mining railway, several trucks full of iron ore on each side line show the abundance of mineral deposits here. This rich mineral deposit made many rough people move to Ma'anshan, the most desolate corner of Dangtu County, and life began to boil.

On the hillside is a dark dense forest that can hardly be seen from the sky, and above is the towering bare top of the mountain, covered with a thick layer of white snow. After the winding hills, the small train is slowly squirming up without a small rail.

Although it is a factory and mining railway, there are also passenger cars running on this small railway. Passenger cars are just temporary truck carriages for mining trains. The so-called passenger car carriages, but the slate freight cars have been changed into passenger cars. There are dozens of people sitting in the simple long carriages with oil lamps, most of whom are workers. After a whole day's fatigue in the iron mine, I took the train back to rest. At least a dozen people, judging from their dusty faces and the safety lights they carry, they are obviously miners.

They sat together to smoke dry smoke, talked in a low voice, and occasionally looked at the two people sitting opposite the carriage. The two people were dressed in uniforms and wore badges on their chests. This is a mining policeman. The mining police used to be the mine protection team, but now they have become police. For workers gathered in Ma'anshan, this is a new word. This is not A few months later, Yuan Shikai turned the government official into a policeman for the sake of his face, and only invented the word when he was stationed in Tianjin.

However, in the twelfth lunar month, the Jianghuai Road Mining Company reported to the governor of Anhui. Tens of thousands of miners gathered in the mining area. Due to regional disputes, the police department of Jianghuai Road Mining Company was established, and the police were the former mine protection team. Although it was fresh, it gave the Jianghuai Road mining company a veritable "law enforcement power". Not only Ma'anshan, but also Huainan has built a company police station, which is responsible for the security of the mining area and dealing with fights, thefts and bandits in the mine.

There are also several women with children in the carriage, who may come to the mine to visit relatives or permanent residents. There are some miner areas scattered along the railway line, where miners build simple grass houses. In addition, there is also a young man sitting alone in the corner of the carriage, sitting or standing next to him, occasionally a few people. Some people look at this young man, but no one will look for the man with short hair and talk to the guards around him. On the one hand, he thinks he is a rude man, and on the other hand, he is a rich man. Naturally, there is nothing to say.

And the young man sitting alone occasionally looks out of the window, and he may faintly see that the brightly lit iron factory area still looks like a big civil construction.

"I didn't expect it to be so fast!"

Through the light, you can see the towering chimneys in the iron factory area and the foundation of the iron smelting blast furnace under construction. Chen Moran didn't expect that it was just a few months. This was originally a wild riverside, and the iron factory showed some appearance. Although I have seen it there now, it has nothing to do with other construction sites. Don't.

Chen Moran, who doesn't want to stay at home alone during the Spring Festival, doesn't know why he came to Ma'anshan by boat in the morning. Maybe it's just because it's far enough from Shanghai, and it's the only place he can come! Compared with Shanghai, there seems to be no New Year's atmosphere here, except for the sound of firecrackers in the air when I approached the port.

Turning around, Chen Moran saw that among the two policemen who were doting, a policeman moved and seemed to wake up. It was his idea to change the mine protection team into a policeman, mainly to save some unnecessary trouble. After all, for these inspectors, the policeman is no different from the one who guards the home.

And the people who have been trained on Hell Island are fundamentally different from these policemen. He didn't want to confuse the two groups of people, so he naturally got out the "factory policeman". When the two policemen woke up, they seemed to notice the difference between the young people in the carriage and others, and also saw the few people sitting next to him. Individuals even saw that they were carrying weapons.

Although the mine protection team changed the police, they were much more relaxed, but they still had the responsibility of protecting the factory and mine. When a policeman stood up and walked towards Chen Moran, Ma Xiaoliu, who had been standing in the aisle, walked over. When the policeman did not speak, he took out a certificate from his arms, which was the certificate of the head office. The steel seal is clear, but the most important thing is the photo, which reveals that the identity of this person is different. After all, other people just write a name and put a steel seal.

When the company is big, it is a little troublesome, especially the distance between Shanghai and Ma'anshan. Not all the policemen know that the person sitting there is their boss. As soon as they saw the certificate of the head office, the police naturally stopped asking, but when they turned around, they looked at the young man again.

A few minutes later, the train drove into a station with only two kerosene chandeliers with dim lights. It is located in the middle of the iron factory and the mining area. Unlike the planned commercial living area of the factory and mine, this is the industrial area of Ma'anshan according to the plan, and the mining machine factory of Jianghuai Road Mining Company is here, but it is just hanging here. It's just a name.

After getting off the train, Chen Moran saw the door of the factory with lights on. Compared with why he came here, in addition to a person who reads for the New Year, it may be because the factory of this hanging mine machine factory is actually his military factory.

A group of five people just walked a few meters away from the gate. Chen Moran saw the guard standing in the "conveyor room" next to the gate moving. If he guessed correctly, one of them should have picked up a submachine gun.

"Please show me your ID!"

Although he was the boss of an industrial company, Chen Moran still obediently showed his certificate. The photo and steel seal were checked one by one, but the guard looked at the light and pressed the steel rivet under the corner of the photo. The small steel rivet was made of stainless steel made by a small pliers in a machine factory in Shanghai, which can be said to be unique in this era. The existence of no other.

When they checked the documents one by one, Chen Moran was very interested in the barbed wire on the high wall at least three meters high. The barbed wire was energized, and there were only three places in Ma'anshan. One was the iron ore that had been put into operation, the other was the iron factory, and the third was here, which relied on their own steam to generate electricity. Machine power generation.

After entering the factory, there were luxurious electric lights in the factory yard. Several two-story buildings leaning against the door were factory offices and technical rooms, and then went back to the factory area. Before arriving at the factory area, I heard the roar of the machine. Although it was New Year's Eve, there were still a lot of lights here. Obviously, it is still working.

"This Shisi doesn't celebrate the New Year, and he doesn't let people celebrate the New Year!"

"Young master, Manager Shi is in the No. 2 hammer forging workshop!"

"Let's go there directly! Today, I will accompany this history expert for the Spring Festival! Let's see how his modern factory is doing!"

Laughing, Chen Moran followed Ma Xiaoliu to a duty officer in the factory and walked to the hammer forging workshop.

Although Chen Moran has also studied machinery, he has never studied it seriously. Later generations of China's folding universities are often just a process. Learning is not in the university, so it is natural to follow the advice of those foreign experts when building a factory. As for himself, he is addicted to the timely products, and naturally he will not care too much about the factory. The history of the mining machinery factory can naturally adjust the factory according to his management method, so that it can meet the standard of "modern factory" in his heart. His most proud achievement is probably to formulate a set of scientific management system, establish a strict quality control system, and strictly control zero. A component in the tolerance range of the piece.

In the forging workshop, the lifting and sliding crane drags out the red steel column from the furnace and sends it to the semi-circular anvil of the 20-ton steam hammer. As the steam hammer violently hits the steel column, the slag splashed out when the sparks are fired, like fireworks. This 20-ton steam hammer is the largest equipment in the mine machine factory, with nearly 200 kilograms of steel columns. Under the hammer forging of the steam hammer, it is like a steamed bun to knead the dough with the hammer of the air hammer, and the internal defects of the steel column forging metal are repaired.

More than an hour later, the steel column with a length of about 2 meters and a weight of nearly 200 kilograms was hammered forged and pushed into another workshop with a cart. The cut ** in that workshop, accompanied by the squeak of metal, spewed out sparks like smoke, and the billet heads at both ends of a steel column of the same size were removed.

"..."

Shi Si, who was talking to the technicians in the factory, widened his eyes as soon as he saw Chen Moran. Why did he come?

"My daughter-in-law has gone abroad. It's right to spend the Spring Festival alone in Shanghai. It happens that you are also alone. Thinking about it, I came to accompany you!"

Explaining, Chen Moran looked at the gun body that was being processed and manufactured, and then took over the production flow chart from Shi Si.

Shi Si's look looked a little proud. It only took him a month to "design" a 75mm field gun. The speed was so fast. Although this gun was only a trial production of six, and even the standard drawings were not drawn, it made him unable to show off.

"...drilling, pulling rifling, stranding, bushing..."

Looking at the production flow chart of the field gun in his hand, Chen Moran frowned.

"How long will it take to build a cannon?"

Six cannons are built only for training the coordination of the infantry cannon of the army, and at the same time for the training of the artillery class of the military school. The gun training gun of Huangpu Sports School uses a model gun with a mixed steel and wood structure. The model gun is still an old-fashioned retreat gun made by Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. The barrel is lined with a 1.5-inch caliber lift in the steel pipe. At that time, the gun barrel was beautifully named to scare the bandits. Yu Lianyuan, who recognized the silver, did not refuse, and offered a "bottom price" of 800 taels of silver very fair.

It is also a no choice but to use a gun with a gun with a range of more than three kilometers after filling it with gunpowder as a cannon. It is just to let those gun scientists master the skills of using artillery, so as not to talk about it on paper. Although the "carrying gun" is lagging behind, it also solves the problem of "gun". Even the machine factory has developed a 1.5-inch small grenade for it.

Although the problem of training has been solved, if there is no real gun, the gun department is a decoration, and it is impossible for the army to master the cooperative combat skills of the infantry without the gun. It is also for this reason that he asked Shi Si to do anything to get a few cannons first. Whether the parts can be used or not, it is not a problem whether the lifespan is long or not. As for the retreat cannon built more than a dozen years ago in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, he didn't like it. It's better to "lift the gun".

"If everything goes well, at least three doors can be built by the end of the month. Fortunately, you have solved the problem of re-entering spring, otherwise I'm afraid it will be delayed for a while!"

Speaking of this, Shi Si added another sentence.

"Mr. Chen, you want to do the arms business, no problem, but your machines are too few, and most of the equipment is civilian equipment. Although it is barely able to produce arms, it is just difficult. This factory even needs a spring to be built by a foreign factory, not to mention it?"

Chen Moran couldn't understand the meaning in Shi Si's words. He didn't blame him. Naturally, he was very clear about the virtue of his factory, but the problem was that the output was not enough at all.

In the moment of hesitation, a rusty and spotted thing in the corner of the factory fell into Chen Moran's eyes. Without saying a word, he walked over and saw that it was a steel pipe full of rust. He picked it up and took a look.

"This is Wuying steel pipe!"

When asking, Chen Moran drew a comparison that the inner diameter of the steel pipe should be about 80 mm, and the wall of the pipe should be within 20 mm.

"This is the scrapped high-pressure pipe on the steam hammer!"

Shi Si replied next to him.

"High-pressure pipe?"

It must be a seamless steel pipe. When I looked at the rusty steel pipe, a weapon appeared in Chen Moran's mind.

"Go! Go to your office!"

I ignored Shi Si's puzzlement, Chen Moran walked to Shi Si's office, walked into the office with his front foot, casually pulled a piece of white paper, and drew a pencil on the white paper.

"Shi Si, you see... This is a bipod. This is the steering wheel and this is a high and low machine. You know more about the things here than I do. I just want to tell you the principle. This steel pipe is a barrel, which is a smooth bore. This is a seat plate. The seat plate and the tail are connected with a universal joint. There is an impact at the tail of the gun, and the shell is pluged directly from the muzzle. Go in, rely on the action of gravity, fall into the tail plate of the gun to fire the bottom fire, and then launch!"

Asked, seeing that no one was talking, he looked up and only saw that Shi Si was stunned.

"Shi Si!"

"Ah!"

Looking at the picture, Shi Si could hardly believe his eyes. Can it be made like this? After being shouted by Chen Moran, he just came to his senses.

"Do you understand what I mean?"

"Clear...understand!"

"I'm talking about making this kind of gun. You can study the structure of this kind of gun and make it like this. This kind of gun is not only simple and easy to make, but also easy to crash, with a caliber between 80 and 90 mm, um! It's best to use that kind of high-pressure pipe directly. There is no need to expand the moltening and change the diameter. A few meters of steel pipe, buy everything, and twist the accessories and a cannon will come out. That's the simplest!"

Chen Moran, who is basically a half-fallen pseudo-military fan, stared at the mortar and almost didn't want to pat his head. He remembered the grenade and the machine gun, but he didn't think of the mortar.

"That...no rifling words, cannonballs..."

Before Shi Si finished his words, Chen Moran's head, with this surname, cursed, took a pencil and drew a stable shell on the paper.

"The shell is this kind of spindle shape. The shell is like a grenade. It is directly cast in cast iron. The tail pipe is a seamless steel pipe. As for the bottom fire... Uh-huh! Directly use the shotgun bullets to remove the old multiple propellant. There is a fire hole in the medicine tube. When firing, just tie the additional medicine bag to the tail tube, and drill some holes on it as a fire hole! As for the fuse, don't you want me to answer this!"

Staring at the simple "cannon" on the paper is almost equal to a toy. Shi Si can't believe that this thing can be a cannon, but the problem is that he is just a cannon, just like... like all kinds of mortars, its trajectory should be as curved as mortars, but lighter and simpler than mortars. To replace those mortars with complex structures and high cost.

"Chairman, if that's right, his trajectory should be very curved. I'm afraid he can't shoot directly!"

Although he was a little surprised that Chen Moran came up with such a simple cannon in an instant, Shi Si still reminded that although the mortar was widely used, it was decades ago.

"This..."

Shi Si's words made Chen Moran hesitate for a while. The mortar could indeed only shoot curvedly. As for the flat shooting, it was simply to drive the ducks on the shelves. Although the mortar's flat shooting was barely feasible, it was not accurate.

"Look like this..."

Chen Moran hesitated to draw on the paper that he had seen a kind of cannon.

Standing at the table, Shi Si looked at the gun on the paper. It was still a simple and light gun, but the bipod turned into a four-pod with a short front and a long back length. The gun body is still a traditional shell, and the gun body is also attached with a re-enter tube, which is not much different from ordinary artillery except for the gun frame.

"Shi Si, it's this kind of gun, with a caliber of 37 to 40 mm, about one kilogram of projectile. The structure is no different from that of ordinary artillery, but it can be simplified as much as possible, parts! The less, the better! When you think about this mortar, let's fix it again!"

After finally drawing the cannon, Chen Moran took a long sigh of relief. He didn't know why he wanted the whole cannon. I'm afraid he just wanted to solve the problem of flat shooting.

"This gun... is almost a gun!"

When it comes to carrying the gun, Shi Si's face became a little ugly. In Germany, he heard many students mocking that the Chinese would only use the most advanced machines to produce useless and outdated waste.

"That's right! It's just to lift the gun! If you carry it, you can shoot. The front foot is supported, and the back foot is cushioned!"

Chen Moran nodded and smiled. This cannon is just a cannon!

"Let's make it simple first, and then make advanced things after accumulating technology!"

At this time, there were bursts of firecrackers outside the window. This was the sound of firecrackers next year. The two people who were originally in a good mood listened to the sound of firecrackers at the same time. Every festival, they missed their relatives. Shi Si was thinking about Nanyang's relatives, while Chen Moran was thinking about the other side of the ocean. The daughter-in-law who "making money" for herself was in her. The only relative in the world.

"I don't know how Ji Li is now!"

With a sigh, Chen Moran, who was not very comfortable, was also not interested in this weapon.

"Go, Shi Si, come with me for a drink!"

(to be continued)