Li Mengxi considered that the army was extremely short of armored stomachs and wanted to prepare armaments. Then he found that instead of preparing expensive armored stomachs or useless shields, it would be better to manufacture bows and arrows in large quantities.

However, mass manufacturing of crossbows requires time and requires a large amount of wood and sinew materials. A large amount of wood, sinew materials, and a large amount of time cannot be solved by the rebels in a short time.

Thinking about other solutions, a low-cost single-piece wooden bow modeled after the British longbow would not work, as there would be no high-quality yew wood.

In the end, Li Mengxi had a wide range of interests, and he thought of making steel crossbows.

According to the current situation of the rebel army, there is a shortage of wood and sinew materials, but iron materials are relatively abundant. If three Huanshou knives can make a steel crossbow, it will be very profitable.

However, during practice, it was discovered that steel crossbows had very different steel performance requirements than swords, and the experience possessed by blacksmiths had no place in making steel crossbows.

This interrupted Li Mengxi's plan to mass-produce steel crossbows.

Therefore, in order to solve the problem of heat treatment of steel crossbow arms, Li Mengxi arranged a large-scale test plan.

As a result, after long preparations and tedious testing, although the results were fruitful and several important technologies were obtained, the original purpose, the steel crossbow, was still not built.

In view of the poor performance of cast iron, and because the previous test used more than 10,000 kilograms of charcoal at one time, the consumption was too much. If the test continues, there will be no charcoal for cooking, let alone the casting of agricultural tools that consume huge amounts of charcoal. work, therefore, Li Mengxi was forced to stop the experiment halfway through.

On another day, Li Mengxi found the swordsmith. He asked the swordsmith to make a long steel bar that was longer, thinner and slightly wider, and then tried to make a steel crossbow.

According to previous experience, the difficulty of steel crossbows is not the steel. With the steel filling method, the steel has been easily solved. The difficulty is quenching. The quenching experience of the sword is put on the crossbow arm, and the processed crossbow arm is not enough for use.

It took more than half a day for the knife maker to hammer out a long and wide steel bar. This steel bar was as wide as a pole and thicker than a thin tile. It was five and a half feet long and weighed an astonishing more than six kilograms. The reason why Li Mengxi insisted on making such a huge steel bar was because he considered the strength issue. Since he could not guarantee that the heat treatment of the steel bar would be just right, he made it thicker. The bigger it is, the stronger it is.

It can be seen that Li Mengxi did not have much confidence in the abilities of the craftsmen.

Furthermore, Li Mengxi’s impression seems to be that steel crossbows are very stupid, bulky, and the bigger and heavier the better.

After the thick and thick steel bar was annealed, normalized and annealed, it was time to start the critical quenching process. Before quenching, the knifemaker hesitated.

After so many previous failures, the steel bar broke as soon as it was pulled, which put great pressure on the knifemaker.

After hesitating and hesitating, the knifemaker boldly decided to use the immature urine quenching and oil quenching technology.

After this period of exploration, the knifemaker has discovered that quenching with urine and grease, and quenching with water have extraordinary effects.

After quenching, it may be because the steel bar was too long and was bent several times. After repeated heating and quenching for a long time, the quenching was finally successful.

In the tempering stage, the knifemaker changed the old tempering method and replaced it with another tempering method on his own initiative.

Inspired by Li Mengxi's use of earthen kilns to temper fire, the knifemaker also built a small kiln. Then, he placed the steel bars against the charcoal fire two feet away from the charcoal fire. The steel bar was inside and the charcoal fire was outside. After burning for half an hour,

, the knifemaker sealed the kiln.

This new tempering method makes use of an earthen kiln and the anaerobic and thermal insulation characteristics of the charcoal burning process. I don’t know whether this method is better called the steel burning method or the kiln firing method.

It took a whole day to build and heat treat the steel bars.

At night, the knifemaker opened the earthen kiln and pulled the steel bars out of the kiln.

After several hours of tempering, I still don’t know how strong the steel is.

The smoldering black and ugly steel bar, the knifemaker stepped on one end of the steel bar, took the other end with his hand, and pressed hard to make it bend slowly.

The results of this tempering are very surprising. The steel bar was bent a full palm length and did not break. It rebounded when the hand was loosened and did not deform after rebounding. This is a sign of sufficient toughness.

Li Mengxi felt that this steel bar could be used as a steel crossbow.

Although it was already night, and seeing the results right in front of him, Li Mengxi refused to wait until tomorrow. He commissioned a group of craftsmen, including blacksmiths, carpenters, and armorers, all night long to discuss how to complete the steel crossbow.

The manufacturing process of crossbows is complicated. To save trouble, the craftsmen removed the arms of a stretched crossbow, then directly tied the steel sheets tightly with ropes in the middle, and tied them directly to the crossbow barrel.

Seeing this method, Li Mengxi realized one thing. If it is a wooden crossbow, the crossbow arm is fixed with a wooden falcon. As for the steel crossbow, the crossbow arm is too thin and wide. It may be fixed with a wooden falcon, but if it is to be easily produced,

, it is best to use steel to make the Kafalcon, as strong as possible.

The body of the crossbow and the arms of the steel crossbow were tied together with ropes, and a steel crossbow was barely made.

A crossbow with a steel arm had never been seen before. The craftsmen were very surprised. With Li Mengxi's consent, the ordnance craftsmen were the first to step forward to try the crossbow.

As a result, because the crossbow was not equipped with a pedal ring, it was impossible to pull the string with both hands, and the steel crossbow itself was heavy. The armorer put the handle of the crossbow on his belly, pulled the string with both hands, and pulled hard.

As a result, it couldn't be pulled at all.

This is very abnormal. If it is a wooden crossbow, even if you pull it down hard without pedaling, the arms of the crossbow should bend a little, but the steel crossbow barely bends at all.

At this point, the craftsman doubted whether the steel crossbow could be used.

Li Mengxi watched from the sidelines. He saw the craftsmen changing rounds, but none of them could pull the steel crossbow. It is said that the craftsmen who have been blacksmithing for a long time are strong and strong. None of them could pull the steel crossbow. Ordinary people could not pull the steel crossbow.

The soldiers couldn't pull it anymore.

Li Mengxi realized that the poundage of the steel crossbow was too large, and this just showed that it was done right.

In my impression, it seems that the performance of steel is not as good as that of rib materials, so steel crossbows generally weigh a lot, so that they can be lethal.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! If the steel crossbow cannot be cocked, there are two ways. One is to find a guy with infinite strength, and the other is to use tools, such as pulleys.

In my impression, steel crossbows are generally equipped with pulleys.

Li Mengxi spent a few minutes recalling the knowledge about pulleys, such as fixed pulleys to change directions and moving pulleys to save effort.

It was difficult to make the pulley for a while, so Li Mengxi simply asked someone to fix the steel crossbow, and then tied a rope to the string. Several people worked together to pull hard, and the steel bar creaked as it was pulled, and it was slowly pulled apart bit by bit.

.

After the crossbow string was finally attached to the crossbow machine, a short crossbow arrow was taken and pushed onto the crossbow chamber. Then the uninvolved personnel retreated and placed a wooden board twenty steps away. After aligning it, a craftsman pulled the crossbow machine.

, the crossbow clicked, and the crossbow exploded before the arrow flew very far.

The crossbow arm was hastily tied with ropes. After receiving a strong shock from the bullet, the rope broke and it fell apart.

Seeing the amazing strength of the steel arm, everyone was stunned.

——

The next day, Li Mengxi built the iron falcon, installed the crossbow arms properly, and then made a hastily made small pulley to facilitate winding. After sufficient testing, Li Mengxi found that the steel crossbow was too powerful. If he took ten or twenty steps, he would miss it.

In the past, there was a pop, and the iron armor penetrated front and back. Often, if it missed the target, the wooden pole was shattered when it hit the target.

However, because the steel crossbow really can't draw too far, the crossbow arrows fired are a bit shorter than the wooden crossbow. The result is that the steel crossbow has amazing short-range lethality, but the range is a bit shorter than the wooden crossbow.

cut.

Moreover, the steel crossbow is too heavy to hold, and the crossbow arm is too wide.

Guan Yu saw that Li Mengxi had actually made a steel crossbow with astonishing strength from steel. Guan Yu held the crossbow for several rounds and tested it. When Guan Yu discovered that within twenty steps, the steel crossbow could pierce a shield.

It was smashed into half pieces, and even the tip of the iron blade could be broken off. Guan Yu was surprised.

With such strength, the Feizhang and Rhubarb crossbows can't do it. Whether it is a Tengzhang or a Rhubarb crossbow, it is expensive and takes a long time to make. The steel crossbow only takes a few days to make, so it is too much scrap metal.

In Guan Yu's eyes, the powerful steel crossbow at close range was a sharp weapon.

As for Li Mengxi, he saw that the steel crossbow was heavy, heavy and made of scrap metal, and had to be wound with a pulley. The rate of fire was as slow as a dog, the range was inferior, and the power was not that great compared to the sinew crossbow.

, it only has outstanding lethality at close range, but at a distance, it is not as powerful as the sinew crossbow.

Li Mengxi frowned at the steel crossbow because of its lack of outstanding lethality and numerous shortcomings. He said to himself, (There are only a few steel crossbows!)

But in fact, how could weapons manufacturing be so simple? Li Mengxi must have realized that, for example, crossbows.
Chapter completed!