The most arrogant in history

Chapter 216 Arms Supplier.

In fact, the cost of a pulley crossbow is at most fifteen taels of silver.

But in Yangzhou, the price was raised, so Wei Ning had no choice but to bleed heavily.

"If the price is one hundred taels, Lord Wei will scold me."

Ye Kun smiled bitterly: "Young Master, take the 500 pulley crossbows back with you. I will give you 10 maintenance workers and 10 operators to help you train the crossbowmen. As for the price, just let Lord Wei decide."

Wei Dingshan cares about his reputation, so if you let him give as you wish, he will only give more, not less.

Wei Ning smiled and said, "I brought three thousand taels of gold and ten thousand taels of silver, which I'll leave to you first. You continue to help me produce the pulley crossbows, and we'll settle the accounts together when the time comes."

"I just happen to be short of money, so I'll keep it for now."

Ye Kun smiled and ordered the quartermaster to take the craftsmen to repair the pulley crossbow.

At noon, Ye Kun hosted a banquet for Wei Ning.

While drinking, Wei Ning talked about the situation and sought advice from Ye Kun on how to defeat the enemy.

Ye Kun pondered and said:

"Jiangdong's navy is the most powerful and the main force. It can be said that any soldier in Jiangdong, once on board, is an excellent navy. In this respect, it is better than Jingzhou. However, Jiangdong is not good at land and horse battles. Once the navy lands, it can only be beaten. When Jingzhou attacks Yangzhou, it should seek land battles and try to avoid naval battles."

Wei Ning sighed: "Master Ye is right, but we can't avoid the Jiangdong navy."

"If you can't avoid it, use fire attack." Ye Kun smiled:

"The Jiangdong navy is strong, but it is downstream. Jingzhou is upstream, diving down, and has the geographical advantage. You should set up more pulley crossbows and double bows and heavy arrows on the bows of your ships, attack from a long distance, and cooperate with fire attacks. You should not lose to the Jiangdong navy."

Wei Ning nodded repeatedly: "Fire attack is a common tactic, but fire attack on the water surface requires a large number of kerosene rockets."

Ye Kun shrugged: "I have refined a lot of oil recently and I am going to distribute it to the people for lighting. If you need it..."

During the two months of the Northern Expedition, the oil mills in Dongba County had begun to produce large quantities of oil.

The main raw materials are hemp seeds and other miscellaneous plant seeds.

Some vegetable oils cannot be eaten, such as oil extracted from neem fruit and Xanthium sibiricum seeds, and can only be used as kerosene. Some low-quality oils and oils that are not sure whether they can be eaten are used as war reserve oils.

There is also the traditional tung oil of the Dading Kingdom, so Ye Kun naturally prepared a lot of it.

Now we have enough fuel reserves to sell a batch.

"Yes, yes, yes, I'll buy it!"

Wei Ning was overjoyed and said with a smile: "Master Ye, as long as it can be used in the war, I want it, and I will pay for it!"

Ye Kun patted Wei Ning on the shoulder:

"Don't worry, big brother. I will definitely help you defeat Yangzhou. I have a lot of workers here. As long as you have money, the workers can work overtime and help you produce various things. If you can't defeat the Yangzhou navy, I will personally help you fight!"

Wei Ning laughed: "With Lord Ye's words, my father and third sister must be so happy."

The next morning, Wei Ning returned with a full load.

Ye Kun made a lot of money from selling military equipment. After paying the soldiers, he still had a lot of surplus.

Within two days, merchant ships from Jingzhou arrived one after another, bringing large quantities of gold, silver, copper coins, wood, scrap copper, bowstrings, refined steel and other materials, asking Ye Kun to quickly make double-bow heavy arrows and a pulley crossbow.

The craftsmen in the army worked overtime day and night.

The oil presses and woodworking workshops were also operating at full capacity, with workers working in shifts day and night.

Ye Kun took some time to go and see Lao He's recent progress in lathe research.

Old He is getting younger and younger. He is working as a carpenter at home, humming a song:

"The poems about the frontiers of war and iron cavalry are full of true love. Generation after generation of good sons and daughters march to the frontiers singing songs..."

Ye Kun stood behind Lao He, smiling but saying nothing.

He Tiantian just came out and saw this scene, and hurriedly greeted: "Master Ye is here?"

Old He was awakened at this moment, turned around and said with a smile: "Master Ye, I didn't see you, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm listening to you singing. You sing very well."

Ye Kun chuckled and checked the laboratory: "I have been too busy these days and haven't paid attention to this. So, what is the biggest problem now?"

Lao He reported his work and showed Ye Kun the sample:

"The bearings have been mass-produced in various specifications and uniform sizes, and most of them can be used. According to the carriage test, the wear is very small and can be used for a long time. The bronze shaft and bronze gear on the sawing machine have been assembled and are being debugged. At present, it seems that the precision is much higher than that of the wood sawing machine."

He Tiantian looked at the newly-made bronze sawing machine and said with a smile, "Master Ye, this thing is indeed useful, but it's too expensive."

The entire sawing machine used more than 200 kilograms of bronze, which is indeed very expensive.

The bed and tabletop are both made of sandalwood, which is not cheap.

"It's expensive, but we can only use bronze for now. It's worth it if you can use one for a lifetime."

Ye Kun looked at the sawing machine and began to test its operation.

In the past, wood sawing machines had a large shaft that was not wear-resistant and had no bearings, which had a great impact on precision.

Now that bronze components are used, the precision has been greatly improved, and efficiency can be greatly improved by increasing the water flow rate and allowing large gears to drive small gears.

Judging from the use of human-powered transmission, this sawing machine is very close to the products of the early industrial age, except for the power.

This kind of high-speed sawing machine can cut larger materials by replacing it with a larger circular saw blade.

Replace with natural sandstone grinding disc, can cut steel.

Lao He is a particular person who strives for perfection in everything he does, so most of the products produced under his supervision are usable.

Ye Kun praised Lao He and instructed: "Install and debug it immediately tomorrow. After it succeeds, make a few more."

Lao He nodded and said, "Don't worry, Lord Ye. Now that we have made the first one, the rest will be quick. We have the materials and drawings, and we can make five more in half a month."

He Tiantian smiled and said, "Master Ye, you haven't taught us for a long time. Many master craftsmen couldn't understand the pulley and lever formulas that my father explained to us."

Ye Kun had been on the expedition for two months and didn’t know the progress of the master craftsmen’s learning, so he nodded and said:

"Tiantian, please inform the master craftsman that I will review everyone's progress over the past two months tonight."

Tiantian nodded and went to gather the chefs.

Ye Kun discussed the situation with Lao He and then prepared some teaching materials.

After dinner, twenty master chefs came, all of whom were elite craftsmen who could write and calculate.

Ye Kun led everyone to review the knowledge of levers and pulleys, and answered the questions one by one.

Then Ye Kun inspired everyone's thinking:

"Two vertical shafts, connected by three gears, the top one turns left, the bottom one turns right, this is called 'coaxial reverse', can you design it?"

The craftsmen scratched their heads, wrote and drew, but could not find a solution.

Lao He also thought it was impossible.

Ye Kun took out the ready-made gears, assembled them on the spot, and demonstrated coaxial counter-rotation.

Everyone was amazed.

"We already have this thing in Dading Country, but no one has seen it." Ye Kun smiled and continued to inspire the craftsmen:

"We have designed and produced hydraulic drilling machines that can drill standard round holes of various specifications. Could you please design a drill that can drill standard equilateral triangles and squares?"

A carpenter below said, "Master Ye, this is impossible. No matter what kind of drill bit you use, it can only produce a round hole."

Ye Kun smiled: "Let me first tell you the conclusion. It is possible to drill a triangle or a square on a wooden board. However, this involves the concept of a 'fixed width curve' and requires a deflection axis. When I have time, I will make this drill bit and everyone will understand it at a glance."

Not to mention the people of the Dading Kingdom, even in the future intelligent industrial era, ordinary people could not understand how to drill triangular or square holes.

Only mechanical engineers and lathe masters know about this thing.

Old He was possessed, and volunteered: "Master Ye, please don't do it yet, let me think about it, maybe I can figure it out."

"A coaxial reverse direction is difficult for you. This fixed width curve and deflection axis are even more difficult." Ye Kun shook his head and smiled, looking at everyone:

"Let me ask you one last question - can half a pound of water make a three-pound boat float?"

He Tiantian answered quickly: "Master Ye, this is impossible. According to the formula you taught us, the buoyancy of an object is equal to the weight of the liquid displaced when the object sinks. So half a pound of water cannot float a three-pound boat."