After returning from Yuegang, Li Guodong also brought back twenty Arab horses. Although this horse has the strongest speed and sprint, its endurance is not as good as that of Mongolian horses, Hequ horses and Liaodong Wuzhumuqin horses. According to Li Guodong's idea, a batch of Alabamas will still be equipped in the future. Endurance almost doesn't matter. Anyway, his cavalry is one person and two horses to one person and three horses. When marching, they use Mongolian horses, and when fighting, they use Alabamas, Hequ horses and so on.

The Wuzhumuqin horse is the most suitable war horse. It has fast speed and endurance, but unfortunately it is not easy to get it. Li Guodong killed so many Jurchens and only grabbed fifty-two Wuzhumuqin horses. Last time he attacked several tribes of the Korqin people, but none of them were even allowed to grab the Wuzhumuqin horse from the Later Jin army.

"Mr. Li, the master told me to call you." In the morning, Li Guodong was still sleeping and was woken up by Hexiang.

The two little maids who were attending the bed, one was named Hexiang and the other was named Mo Zhu. After getting along these few days, Li Guodong was a little reluctant to part with these two little girls. The girls in the south have very delicate skin and are young, so watery that they can pinch out water.

After Li Guodong got up, two little maids served him to put on his clothes, massaged his back, gently pinched his neck, and then fed him the toiletries and handed them over towels and brushing supplies.

After walking out of the house, Li Guodong rode his horse to the Zheng blacksmith shop.

All the spare parts of the boring machine and crane have been built and are just waiting to be installed.

After Li Guodong arrived at the blacksmith shop, he guided the craftsmen to start the installation. However, during the installation process, some minor problems still arose: some parts were slightly larger in size and needed to be re-sanded. But that was very fast, after all, the error was not big. The craftsmen in the Zheng family were very exquisite, which was much higher than the craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Works.

In fact, it is not that the craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty’s Ministry of Works’ craftsmanship is not good, but that the craftsman system restricts the level of craftsmen, and the status of craftsmen under the Ministry of Works’ craftsmanship is extremely low.

The power-making of the civil servants and the rigidity of Confucian ideology have suppressed the status of craftsmen to the lowest level ever. The increasingly difficult craftsmen were unable to leave the system because of the Ming Dynasty's ancestral system, so they had to lose their minimum craftsman spirit in a daze. Over the years, when the Liaodong war broke out, civil servants always placed huge orders in order to be greedy for money. The Ministry of Works urged craftsmen to be prolific, and the result was that quality and quantity were inversely proportional.

But it’s different for Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong is rich, so in order to allow craftsmen to create better weapons, he is willing to spend more money!

Li Guodong had talked with Lin Shuijie and other craftsmen before. Some of the craftsmen here were craftsmen who escaped from the Ministry of Works of the Ming Dynasty. After coming to Zheng Zhilong's place, their living standards have been greatly improved. Compared with their previous life, one is in the sky and the other is in the ground.

All the preparations were completed, and Li Guodong asked the craftsmen to set fire to smel the iron.

Next, Li Guodong asked someone to evenly apply a layer of wet mud on the inner wall of the iron mold, and then put the iron mold into the insulation room next to the blast furnace. The temperature in the insulation room was more than 100 degrees. After a while, the wet mud applied to the inner wall was dried. Then he pulled out the two iron molds, and paired the two pieces of the molds, inserted the pins into the holes, and fixed the two pieces of molds. Finally, insert the cannon core from above the mold, and then waited for the molten iron. After the refining, fill the molten iron.

There is no wet mud on the outside of the cannon core, but this cannon core is carefully crafted. After the cannon core is cast, the blacksmiths will use a hammer to make the cannon core close to the quality of steel, and finally the cannon core is as smooth as a mirror. In this way, when casting the cannon, the cannon core will not be stuck by the iron when the iron cools down, because the melting point of the steel is high and the melting point of the iron is low, and the cannon core is as smooth as a mirror, so it can ensure that the iron will not be stuck.

After three quarters of an hour, the refined iron water flowed out. The craftsmen pulled the crane, lifted the iron mold, placed the iron mold under the outlet of the iron water, and then pulled open the bricks that blocked the gap in the iron sink, allowing the iron water to flow into the hole of the mold.

Finally, the mold filled with molten iron is pulled into the insulated room by a crane to prevent the iron mold from dissipating too quickly and causing it to turn into white tin. In this way, the mold can be sent into the insulated box, which can slow down the temperature of the iron mold. Finally, after opening the mold, the gray tin is obtained.

Li Guodong knew that the iron refined in this way was actually pig iron, but it was just pig iron of good quality, and it was almost meeting the requirements of cooked iron.

The iron mold filled with iron is sent to the insulating room and cooled slowly for a period of time. When the time is almost done, it is pulled out. Use a crane to pull out the cannon core, and then the iron mold is sent into the insulating room.

When the cooling was formed, the iron mold was opened, and the first cast 24-pound gun barrel was cast. While the barrel was still red, a craftsman inserted a steel brazing into it and drilled out of the fire door. Then he waited for it to cool down completely. When the temperature dropped, the barrel was lifted up by the crane again and placed next to the boring machine. Two craftsmen were responsible for polishing the inner chamber.

After polishing the inner chamber, even if the heavy artillery is done, the rest is the carpenter's business. Build a gun mount and install the barrel on the gun mount. Anyway, it is a naval gun or a turret gun, and there is no need for a complicated gun mount like a field gun.

One of the eighteen-pound cannons, twelve-pound cannons and nine-pound cannons was also completed. After weighing the weight, the newly cast twenty-four-pound cannons weighed 8,000 kilograms, the eighteen-pound cannons weighed 6,000 kilograms, the twelve-pound cannons weighed 5,000 kilograms, and the nine-pound cannons weighed 4,000 kilograms.

After hearing the weight of the soldiers' reports, Zheng Zhilong was very satisfied with these cannons and couldn't wait to ask for a test cannon.

"Brother, there is no artillery mount yet." Zheng Xing reminded.

"No need for a cannon stand, it is placed on a stone. I just want to see how powerful this cannon is!"

Dozens of Zheng family soldiers panted and carried the newly built twenty-four-pound cannons, lifted the cannons to a large stone by the sea, and then the soldiers set up cannons on the stones.

Li Guodong also helped Zheng Zhilong improve gunpowder, and the soldiers loaded gunpowder and shells into it.

"Let's set off!" Zheng Zhilong said.

A soldier holding a torch stretched out the torch and poked it towards the fire door. When he saw the fuse ignited, he ran away quickly.

Only a loud "boom" sound was heard, and a slender tongue of flame ran away and spewed out. The white smoke spread out from the muzzle and the fire door. It was obvious that the power was very strong. The whole cannon jumped up from the stone. The shells roared out and flew towards the distant sea. After a while, they saw the shells landing on the sea and a column of water soaring into the sky was raised.

Zheng Zhilong ordered the accuracy of the cannon to be tested, and the experimental results were very satisfied.

"My dear brother casts cannons for Zheng and teaches Zheng's craftsmen how to cast cannons. Zheng is really grateful! I wonder how much money does my dear brother want?" Zheng Zhilong touched his beard and looked at Li Guodong with a smile and asked.

"It depends on my elder brother. You can give as much as you want. Even if you don't give a penny, it's okay. I just want to buy more copper from my elder brother." Li Guodong said politely.

——

Thank you for the endless battle formations, the sky sword dances in full swing, and finally I have time to wait for all friends who vote for monthly votes. Thank you for your generous rewards from all book friends
Chapter completed!