122 – Finding a Job (4)
“400 Kg of bronze…?”
Ooh, ooh…
This has crossed the line no matter how you look at it. No matter how rich the Rotaring is, you can’t just use 400kg of bronze.
Of course, if you squeeze the national budget, you can collect some of it, but if you do that far, you can barely collect the materials, which means that it is a failing grade for military supplies.
‘Somehow… That was the only reason for success.’
What did they say before? Did you say that the cannon was the only one that flew as much as the gunpowder was put in and the trajectory was relatively constant, so it was possible to calculate the impact point before firing?
That’s right. Because it is ignorantly thick, the gun barrel can easily withstand the explosion of gunpowder, and it is ignorantly heavy, so once aimed, it will not shake even if the gunpowder explodes.
“…! Sin, sorry, Your Majesty.”
I was astonished at the price and scale of that cannon, but the craftsman next to me hurriedly said so as if terrified.
Are you embarrassed because I didn’t say anything?
“So… 360 Kg of copper and 36 kg of tin. It is a bronze made by alloying the two metals in a ratio of 10:1.”
“…Thank you.”
The artisan, who thought that the reason I was angry was because I said it roughly as a bronze, freaked out and told me the alloy ratio of bronze.
Tin… So roughly five times the price of copper?
Canned bronze in nature has different alloy ratios, so it cannot be used for munitions for the purpose of uniformity. And, of course, all of these come at a cost.
If you include the price of gunpowder, cannonballs, and wheels that can withstand the weight of that gun barrel… Uh…
“…Hey.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“What about the siege ability of that cannon? Shooting it at a pile of wood isn’t sure how powerful it is, so I’d like to try shooting it at a stone structure.”
Bitter… I can’t help it. First of all, it would be better to produce a minimum and use it for siege purposes.
If the power is certain, even if it’s expensive, if you make a few of them, you’ll be able to use them in a siege.
It didn’t look that big, but 400kg, after all, metal is very heavy compared to its volume.
“That… Your Majesty, you will have to wait a long time as stone structures cannot be built in a short period of time.”
At that time, the craftsman who heard my order looked at me with hesitant eyes, then swallowed his breath as if he had made a promise and said so.
“Oh, I guess that’s it too.”
Well, a stone structure large enough to test the power of a cannon cannot be built in a short period of time. It will take about a week.
Umm… Then it will take too long, but I want to check the result right now—- yes.
“A stone structure, isn’t it over there?”
“Over there, what–sss…”
Sitting in a chair, I stretched out my arm and pointed my finger as I said that, and the craftsman followed my fingertips with a puzzled expression and was greatly astonished when he saw the object I was pointing at.
Fortress walls.
Since the walls of Dijon were there.
“Your Majesty…”
“Isn’t it a very good target to test if you can break down the wall? No, it’s actually the wall itself, so it’s more accurate to see it as a real battle rather than a test.”
Of course, it is not a wall that protects the city, but an outer wall built outside to create a bottleneck for the enemy. If you shoot at the walls protecting the city, you’re just a madman.
However, for a craftsman, there seems to be no need to distinguish between such things. After all, the outer wall is also the wall.
“Anyway, that outer wall was an obstacle to building a city and had to be demolished. Rather than just demolishing it, wouldn’t it be better to use it more usefully?”
“Okay… I see…”
Realizing that no matter what he said, the craftsman nodded bitterly, and then gave orders to the lower craftsmen to drag the cannon to the front of the castle wall.
The artisans who were scraping off the gunpowder dregs left in the gun barrel now look astonished at what they heard correctly, but they look at me, who is calm, and the craftsman who has his eyes closed, then nod tremblingly.
What’s wrong with you guys?
It seems like there is some big misunderstanding, and even though I wanted to explain, they didn’t say anything, and it’s not fair to me to explain.
“…Do you have any questions?”
“Nothing, Your Majesty.”
Unable to bear it, I openly asked if I had anything to ask to clear up the misunderstanding, but the father-in-law hurriedly shook his head and showed with his whole body that [I have no questions about Your Majesty!].
No, just say it.
It’s all revealed through facial expressions and actions.
“…Enough then. Let’s go back to the cannon’s story.”
Whew.
I don’t think I’ll give a proper answer if I hold on here any longer, so I decided to just ignore it and go back to work.
The muzzle needs to be cleaned, cooled, and it will take a lot of time to keep the walls within range.
“Could you reduce the materials that go into that cannon more? It doesn’t matter if the power is reduced.”
“Oh, it is under research. I made a prototype of a cannon weighing 50kg, but if I put a little gunpowder, the power is ambiguous and the trajectory becomes unstable, and if I put a lot of gunpowder, the gun barrel explodes. .”
To be honest, the difference in performance between cannons made entirely through the casting process is not that great. Probably the problem with gunpowder is big, but this is not the job of the artisans here, so I’ll pass first.
“How big is the difference in caliber?”
“So 1.54 Cubits… Sorry, the 50kg stuff has a 65mm caliber, the 400kg stuff has a 120mm diameter.”
65Mm and 120mm.
The caliber is appropriate for both.
50Kg, so the 65mm will be very useful for destroying the enemy’s quakes and improvised structures in the field, and the 120mm if you have good siege skills, you won’t be able to make many, you should just make a few. If the siege ability is not good, scrap it and make only 65mm.
“Also, try mixing iron once to make a cannon. Wouldn’t it be too expensive to make it with only bronze?”
“…Your Majesty, we’ve tried many times to make cannons out of iron, but all of them exploded and died—”
“I know that because I received a report. Cast iron, which is too brittle and has no choice but to create bubbles during the casting process, will not withstand the explosive power of gunpowder and will break as it is. Compared to bronze, iron has a too high melting temperature, so it is difficult to handle. It’ll be hard.”
“Yes… Yes?”
The artisan’s eyes widen when I use blacksmith or sensible words. It seems very strange that the aristocrat knows something meaningful beyond paying attention to this kind of industry.
I was the one who ordered gunpowder and cannons to be made in the first place and even made the blueprints.
“So, make the inner and outer diameters of the gun barrel different materials. For example, cover the inner diameter of cast iron with the outer diameter of copper or bronze.”
“…!”
Hong Yi Po, that is, the Ming Dynasty arranged version of Culverine, remembers that the inner and outer diameters of the Po were made of different materials to save costs. I can’t remember what the material was, but since the outer diameter should be less brittle than the inner diameter, it was probably copper or bronze.
“That… Makes sense. You can make an inner bore out of cast iron in advance and then coat it with bronze or copper. You’ll be able to press… Yes, if you put soft iron in the inner diameter and cast iron in the outer diameter– Hmm. I’m sorry, Your Majesty. The idea of dividing the inner diameter and outer diameter is very brilliant. It seems that it will require very precise work to be carried by boat. Besides, the railroad is surprisingly not cheap, and the melting temperature is high, so it seems that there will not be much benefit in terms of price.”
The artisan, who seems to be impressed by the idea I mentioned, mumbles this and that to himself and conducts thought experiments, but soon realizes that I am in front of him and quickly returns to the real world.
After that, the craftsman realizes the meaning of what I said to separate the inner and outer diameters and advises that it is difficult to benefit from the price. Precise work means a decrease in production, and doing the work twice and having to use more fuel means an increase in cost, so in the end, it must be that there is not much difference in price compared to making it with pure bronze.
“It’s a precise job… Well, you guys just have to work hard and you don’t have to worry about melting fuel or iron.”
I can’t help myself with precise work. An engineer must have good skills to do precise work, but no matter how hard he tries to improve his skills, there is no answer other than time and effort. What is that… Didn’t I say there is no royal road? That’s right.
But I can handle the latter.
“Your Majesty, don’t touch that! It’s too dirty—”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. You can just wash it off. Is this charcoal?”
“Yes…? Yes, charcoal.”
The father-in-law, who was frightened that my body would get dirty, answered my stupid question with an expression asking if I was asking something obvious.
It’s charcoal… Well, that’s natural. Coal in its natural state is difficult to use for refining.
“Have you tried coal?”
“Coal… You mean? It smokes a lot, the temperature doesn’t rise that much, and the iron is rotten, so it can’t be used.”
There’s a lot of smoke and the iron is rotting… They say that the coal they collect around here has a lot of impurities.
Okay.
If it was anthracite coal, things would have been a little twisted, but if it was bituminous coal, I could make coke.