Chapter 73

Shen Wanqing smiled and said, "When I was arranging the tiles, I had already memorized what each tile was. Then I watched as you all picked them up. How could I not win?"

Chen Bo exclaimed in amazement, "You could remember so many tiles!"

Shen Wanqing smiled without speaking. Chen Bo laughed and said, "Great! It's admirable to see such talent. It's not in vain for me, Chen Bo, to have lived to see such a capable person. Send me the design of what you want to make, and I will have my apprentices work day and night to get it done for you."

After leaving the gate, Shen Wanqing smiled and asked Lin Yuan, "See, I've helped you again. How are you going to thank me?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "What do you think?"

Shen Wanqing smiled but said nothing.

After returning to the base, Liu Jinqiu had already arranged for the engineers to draw the blueprints for various steel casting molds. Most of these blueprints were stored in personal computers, so they just needed to be printed out. To ensure that the 19th-century craftsmen could understand the 21st-century blueprints, Lin Yuan specially arranged for an engineer to stay with Chen Bo to provide guidance.

Then, Lin Yuan gathered Liu Jinqiu, Su Zhengming, and other experts. Lin Yuan came straight to the point and said, "Professors, war may break out at any time. Can we produce rifles now?"

At this moment, an elderly man spoke. His name was Luo Chaoying, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the chief engineer of the Beijing ship's catapult system. Luo Chaoying said, "Following the captain's instructions, I found a few engineers to design an automatic rifle. I believe those present have already seen it."

Su Zhengming smiled and said, "Lao Luo, is that your own design? How is it different from the AK47? Let me raise a few material issues. First, what will the barrel be made of?"

Liu Jinqiu said, "We used the spectrometer on the Beijing ship to test the batch of iron ore that was brought in and found that it contains a certain amount of chromium. Therefore, we can smelt a batch of chromium alloy for the barrel, which can withstand high temperatures."

Seeing that Liu Jinqiu was somewhat hesitant, Lin Yuan asked, "Lao Liu, is there any difficulty in smelting this alloy?"

Liu Jinqiu said, "We lack temperature detection equipment. Can we get it from the Beijing ship?"

Lin Yuan said, "Our nuclear reactor is currently operating at low power, so there shouldn't be any problems. I'll temporarily take the temperature detection equipment from there."

Liu Jinqiu nodded and said, "With the temperature detection equipment, combined with the smelting theories of our time, we can almost produce heat-resistant alloys. However, we definitely won't meet the national standards, but let's solve the urgent problem for now."

Su Zhengming said, "Also, how will we solve the machining issues?"

Luo Chaoying said, "In our firearms factory, there is a dedicated workshop for machining rifling. We have specialized industrial robots, so the rifling can be processed quickly. However, now we have to use the simplest method. First, we need to drill holes in the cylindrical steel bars. This is still manageable. I know the Beijing ship has some mechanical processing equipment, so the drilling shouldn't be a problem."

Luo Chaoying continued, "Then there's the rifling. I suggest, for quick processing, we make smoothbore guns."

Lin Yuan said, "Smoothbore guns are too inaccurate. Can we think of another way?"

Luo Chaoying said, "Rifling isn't that difficult to process. We can make the cutting tool move horizontally while the barrel rotates around the tool's axis. As long as the two speeds are appropriate, we can process the rifling. However, we don't have specialized equipment, so I suggest we make some. This equipment can be operated manually. First, there's a large wheel that can be turned by hand. The lever is long, so one person can easily turn it. This wheel is connected to a slide through a connecting rod, converting the rotation into linear motion. The end of the slide is connected to the cutting tool, which can be inserted into the barrel. The barrel is fixed on a chuck, which is connected to a ratchet. As the slide pushes the cutting tool horizontally, it also pushes the ratchet through a connecting rod, causing the ratchet to rotate the chuck. This way, the rifling can be processed. The cutting tools are available on the Beijing ship, but they can't be used directly. I'll go back and modify them."

Su Zhengming said, "The barrel problem is solved. I suggest using cast iron for the receiver, magazine, and other related parts, and then using stamping equipment to form the required shapes. We can also manufacture the stamping machines ourselves. Cast iron is relatively soft, so stamping is easier."

Luo Chaoying said, "What will we use for power?"

Su Zhengming said, "In our time, stamping machines were driven by electric motors. We can do the same here. I remember the Beijing ship's tow trucks are electrically powered. Why don't we take the electric motors from them and use them first?"

Lin Yuan said, "That's fine, but do we need to make any modifications?"

Luo Chaoying said, "No problem, I'll take care of it."

Su Zhengming continued, "For the stock and other parts, I suggest we follow the initial design of the AK series, which is made of wood. As for the processing and anti-corrosion of the wood, I believe there are many carpenters in this country who are more skilled at these tasks than we are."

Su Zhengming added, "Since it's an automatic rifle, we inevitably need a recoil spring. The steel used for springs is called 'spring steel' and is classified as a special type of steel in our country. Can we produce this type of steel?"

Liu Jinqiu said, "In our time, alloy spring steel was commonly used, but we currently lack the alloy elements. We can use carbon spring steel, and the manufacturing theories are well established. We can definitely produce suitable spring steel."

Luo Chaoying said, "For the production of springs, we will also need specialized tools, which we can manufacture ourselves. We can make the steel wire move horizontally in a groove and use something to block the wire along its path. This will cause the wire to move out of the plane of the groove and into a vertical plane, forming a spiral shape. This way, we can produce the springs. For power, we can use the electric motors from the tow trucks, as suggested by Academician Su."

Lin Yuan said, "What about the other parts of the rifle?"

Luo Chaoying said, "We have minimized the number of parts in the design. The necessary parts can be provided by the steel mill. As for the production, didn't the old craftsman Chen Bo promise to help? He and his apprentices can help make a batch."

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "The next issue is ammunition. How will we solve it?"

The experts present shook their heads. Su Zhengming said, "The ammunition problem is even bigger. First, to prevent corrosion, the outside of the bullet needs to be coated with copper, but we lack copper. Even if we use steel entirely, we face a significant challenge: our production capacity is severely insufficient. It will be difficult for us to produce enough ammunition, which is consumed in large quantities."

Lin Yuan said, "Then let's do this. I noticed that the ammunition depot of the Ryukyu Kingdom has a considerable number of bullets. Why don't we make the caliber the same as theirs?"

Seeing the experts nod in agreement, Lin Yuan said, "Let's do it this way. We'll divide the tasks and act accordingly."

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