Eagle Byzantium

When Anna Caesar was discussing the grand strategy with the new mentor in the palace, in the open field in front of the Alamein "Grand Ladder" hydraulic workshop, Gawain on the horse looked at the little sunfish in the carriage and pointed at this magnificent of architecture, "Agnes, this is your masterpiece."

After a while, Agnes still came out, and then walked to Gawain's horse. Her voice was a little weak, "Is the water wheel inside driving the mill, sawing wood and leather equipment?"

"There are indeed stone mills, but the first-level and second-level workshops now in use are not for grinding flour, nor are they used for sawing wood with lathes. They have more urgent tasks." Gao Wen chatted, got off his horse, stretched his hand towards the stairs leading up to the edge of the large workshop, and made a warm invitation gesture, "You will know it when you go in and take a look. It will be at Alamein's small castle. I also have a tool for you to see."

However, the little sunfish looked at him with an expression of resentment and disbelief.

After all, something like that had happened. No matter how thick-skinned the other brown bear was, he was still very, very embarrassed.

Gawain pretended not to see it, but kept stretching his hands to invite him.

In the end, the little sunfish lowered its head without saying a word, and took the lead to go up the stairs. Gawain asked the Turkic servants to tie the mare to the wooden stake below, and he followed behind the gray-haired girl. Step by step along the "big ladder", as if walking in mid-air, we arrived at the highest level of the first-level workshop.

After entering, Agnes saw a row of "fishtail canal holes" drilled into the barrier wall of the river. Its belly was curved, with a large entrance and a small exit, which effectively transformed the water velocity and made it flow. Shooting out from the "fish tail" more powerfully——Agni Si stood on the wooden platform with a fence at the entrance and couldn't help but cover her ears at the deafening sound of water and wheels. "This fishtail canal is your invention. It increases the efficiency of the water wheel by half!" Gawain stood beside her and shouted his praises.

Agnes ignored him and looked at the four staggered sets of large water wheels driven by the water flow. They rumbled, rotated with unparalleled power, and drove the mechanical shafts connected to them. Two of them were Used to drive the mill in front of Agnes: This stone mill is specially made. It is suspended in a shed with strong and complex ropes. The millstone placed below is just a millimeter off. The right proportion of Khitan snow is placed in the middle, and it is quickly ground into a uniform powder. Adigai and Slavonic craftsmen next to him were working carefully.

"This..." Agnes couldn't help but asked curiously, because previously, the Khitan snow in Tarsus was made by separately preparing saltpeter, charcoal and refined sulfur, and then pouring them into the wood according to the formula proportions. In the bucket, when the time of war comes, it must be slowly stirred with a round-headed shovel before it can be put into the cartridge for shooting handguns. Now what is the point of Gawain preparing it directly during the grinding process?

"The more symmetrical the particles of Khitan snow are, the better the power and safety of the emission will be. Therefore, the previous technology of pounding medicine with wooden pestle can no longer meet the needs. Grinding method must be used, but if using traditional stone grinding, it will be rubbed with a millstone. Strong and easy to use It is prone to deflagration, hurting slave workers and craftsmen, and causing heavy losses. Therefore, I adopted the suspension method, which greatly improved safety, saved a lot of manpower, and increased production." Gao Wen said with all his words. With pride.

At this moment, Agnes blushed and grabbed Gao Wen's robe, "Stop showing off. These mechanical ideas of yours were all taken away from me through extremely despicable and dirty means."

Then she pushed away Gawain who raised his hands to express "love and peace" and looked at the other two sets of equipment driven by water wheels: this was a technology introduced from the Seleucia paper mill. The long axis of the water wheel drove the equipment here. The flywheel rotates on a short shaft made of a round wooden cylinder. Four wooden pestles move up and down on the shaft. Below is a set of four grinding bowls lined up, and a masked slave worker. Continuously use a basket to grind the Khitan snow from the mill next to it, then pour it here and tamp it to make it even finer, and then pass it to other slave workers sitting on rows of benches. This group of slaves After the workers squinted their eyes and used a uniform weight and measure container to weigh it, they poured the Khitan snow into rows of dense paper tubes of the same size and length and sealed them. Greek numbers indicating the weight were also written on the tubes.

"Paper tubes have different specifications and are used for firearms of different regulations. This is called quantitative charging. In this way, when the fire throwers use it, they don't have to use messy medicine paper tubes, wooden tubes or horns like before, which will greatly increase the number of combat operations. efficiency."

"That kind of gunpowder arrow and Khitan fire is placed in a copper and iron gun. It doesn't matter how it is fired or how far it goes, right?" Agnes said with some sarcasm.

"The reason why I made such a change is, of course, that there are new firearms that match this technology." Then, Gawain walked to the edge of the wooden fence and pointed to the top of the second workshop below it. It is similar to the first workshop. The wooden platforms happened to be connected, and Agnes, who came over, was able to see the entire production scene in the second workshop from a high position.

She was surprised. The floor between the second workshop was also full of hard-working craftsmen and slave workers, coming and going like ants. They still used water power - the steps between the two workshops. At the gap, a water storage gate is used to cleverly retain the energy of the water flowing into the second workshop. Agnes saw several boring machines lined up, each inlaid with a cylindrical bronze tube. The waterwheel-driven rotating shaft had a sharp leaf-shaped cutter inserted on it, which was constantly cutting the bronze tube. Rotating the hole...

"No wonder there is so much smoke in the small town."

"Yes, there is a large pedestal-type furnace erected there, as well as many bellows and crucibles. Everything is as convenient as using a bronze bell, but the style is different, and the formula is also different from ordinary bronze bells. This is to increase the hardness and withstand the power of the Khitan snow explosion. For example, the proportion of tin only needs to be one-tenth, and some brass should be added. The mold can be used to forge the core piece you see on the boring machine, with water underneath. I drilled them through with a force cutter, set up the fire door and projectile chamber, and then installed a qualified bronze gun tail. In terms of shape, I referred to the Madam gun used by the Mujahideen on the Sebastian Plateau, but The materials, power, and carts are much superior to them." Gawain said a little arrogantly, "How? In order to prevent you from doubting my words, there are already two finished products on display at the castle. There, you come with me and take a look.”

At the fort on the top of the mountain, there was an open flat area surrounded by fences. At the end, a high platform was built with wooden frames and earthen baskets. A wooden board was placed in the middle with a linen painting on it. Agnes From a distance, this painting shows a figure with a long beard and a crown, with a hideous and disgusting face. Under it are the words "Persecutor, Narrow Madman, Alexios Comnenos, Tyrant of Constantinople" in Greek... ...(To be continued ~^~)