Yao Shouxin and Zhang Lin brought a few subordinates, and watched Tao Qiqi and a few officials together, while explaining, they intercepted the medicine letter and inserted it into the flowering bullet. After finishing it, Tao Qiqi clapped his hands and said: "Tizhi, when this bomb is combined with the medicine credit, let the medicine letter face forward." The flowering bullet we made is slightly conical and not perfectly round. As long as you recognize the front and back, you won't make a mistake. ”

Zhang Lin said: "Why do you want to let Yaoxin move forward? When the cannon is fired, the gunpowder in the chamber is used to ignite the medicine letter, and it can't be burned forward? ”

Tao Qiqi smiled: "This truth is what we tried little by little. The shell was made of wooden support, and the gunpowder in the chamber ignited, and it was not completely sealed behind the shell, but a flame burned to the front of the shell. With each shot, there is a flash of flame in the muzzle, and this is the truth. It is the flame that ignites the medicine letter. It is made with a very delicate medicine letter, and it should be completely separated from water when kept, and it is not careless. ”

After speaking, Tao Qiqi handed the telescope in his hand to Yao Shouxin and said, "There is a small flag in front, which is where the flowers are about to fall." Tihar can be measured again, and it is about 500 steps. Now the cannons and shells are different from the past, they have been refined, and the range is a little longer. ”

Yao Shouxin took the telescope and looked at it, and the visual distance was about the same as what Tao Seventeen said. I called a special gunner and asked him to re-test the small flag over there with his eyes. The gunner stretched out his thumb, took turns to retest his eyes, secretly calculated, and said: "Gunner, the small flag is about five hundred and twenty-seven steps!" ”

"Okay, it's enough to hit more than 500 paces away." As an artillery commander, Yao Shouxin's ranging is much stronger than this gunner, as long as he takes a closer look, he has an approximate distance in his heart, and the accuracy will not be worse than that of this gunner.

The gunners in the army have the ability to measure distance with their eyes. Choose some talented people, teach the jumping eye distance measurement method, and then after a long time of training, the accuracy can be controlled within one step. The principle of jumping eye distance measurement is the same, but to measure accurately, it takes talent and long training. Furthermore, it is possible to measure distance with both eyes without using fingers for assistance, which requires more talent and training. Yao Shouxin is the latter type, the accuracy of binocular observation is not much different from the accuracy of jumping eye ranging, and a large amount of calculation time can be omitted, which others cannot learn.

Using the telescope to re-observe the small flag in the distance, Yao Shouxin said: "Then let's fire a cannon and see how accurate it is." Seventeen Lang, although the army has made new artillery shells and reduced the cost of shells and bullets, gunpowder is still not cheap, and it is necessary to use it sparingly. Otherwise, I will fire dozens of cannons and master all kinds of shells! ”

Tao Seventeen said: "I heard the officials mention this matter. The sulfur used in gunpowder has been changed to Jinju sulfur, and Zhang Qian, who is in charge of the iron superintendent, has put a lot of effort into it, and now it is extremely pure, and the price has dropped. Now the most expensive is flame nitrate, there is no ore to mine, can only be collected from the people, the amount is large, the price has also risen. Since last year, the price of nitrate in the beneficial state has dropped a bit. ”

The main components of gunpowder are charcoal, sulfur and flame nitrate, and with the increasing requirements, the cost has basically stabilized and is not cheap. Charcoal is made of special willow wood, and in addition to some designated places, there are charcoal forests specially planted in the fields. Coupled with the cost of refining, although the price is higher than that of ordinary charcoal, it is still within the acceptable range of the van army. Due to the large amount of sulfur used in the military, natural sulfur cannot be used, and there are not many sulfur mines in China. The Jinju sulfur used today is just a name, which refers to the fact that it is made from natural pyrite ore and is actually produced by the iron superintendent. It can be mass-produced with iron ore, and the cost of sulfur has been controlled, and the most difficult thing is flame nitrate. Flame nitrate is widely distributed, and it can be produced in large quantities in the Ruzhou area, but there is no mine, and it is collected and refined from saline-alkali land. The labor is there, the amount of use is large, and the price will inevitably go up. In recent years, in Hedong and Jingxi prefectures, quite a few people have made a fortune by collecting fires and nitrate. At present, the biggest cost of gunpowder is to purchase flame nitrate, which is refined in the army.

Ordered to fill the cannon with gunpowder, Tao Seventeen led people to put the flowering bullet carefully, and said: "In the past, the flowering bullet was extremely dangerous, and it was not allowed to be used in battle, but only for research purposes." With this method, the flowering shell is much safer, and it can be used in large quantities in the army in the future. ”

Of course, Yao Shouxin knew the significance of using flowering shells, and after shooting them to the ground, they quickly exploded, and the power of the artillery was much greater. Especially against enemy troops in dense formations, it is extremely useful and can kill and damage a large area. The flowering shells are produced by the iron superintendent, which is well-made, and the amount of gunpowder inside is stable, and the shell can also ensure that it is uniform. Moreover, the pre-opened trench can be completely exploded, in addition to the iron ball inside hurting people, the shell after the explosion is also lethal.

For the sake of safety, the army was rarely equipped with flowering shells in the past. If the newly produced flowering bomb of the Iron Supervisor can be tested to verify its safety and ensure its lethality, it will be able to be equipped on a large scale in the army in the future. In field battles, flowering bullets are much more useful than solid bullets.

The gunner stood next to the cannon, loaded the gunpowder and flowering shells, and Yao Shouxin gave an order and lit the medicine twist. There was a loud bang, and a burst of fire came out of the muzzle, and the shells flew through the air in the light of fire and smoke.

Before he could recover from the artillery fire, he heard an explosion in the distance, and a puff of smoke and dust rose from it.

Yao Shouxin waved his hand: "Let's go, let's go over and have a look!" Whether the flowering bullet is successful or not, it depends on this cannon! ”

A few men got on their horses and headed for the smoke-filled place five hundred paces away. After a short time, when I arrived, I saw that the small mound where the flag was planted had been blown up, and the shell of the bomb was very conspicuous. Within a few steps, weeds and small trees were beaten to pieces, and they were in disarray.

Yao Shouxin took people to take a closer look, and asked people to draw the general distribution map of the shell and the steel balls inside, divide them into a circle, mark the number of shells and steel balls picked up in each circle, and at the same time count the shell explosion, which is incomplete and the size of the fragments. This is Du Zhongxiao's request, when his subordinates report, try to use numbers to speak, and don't use text skills to talk in generalities. This is the difference between technical officials, professional bureaucrats, and ordinary officials. It took Du Zhongxiao many years to cultivate such a group of people and form this habit.

Seeing that Yao Shouxin was busy, Tao Qiqi stepped forward and asked, "How?" In the past, when I went to shoot shellfish with cannons, it was not so delicate. ”

Yao Shouxin said with a smile: "It has been four or five years since Pobei Prefecture, how can it be the same as then?" Now the artillery in the army must be carefully calculated. How much range, how much medicine to load, what kind of bullets to use, everything has rules to follow. The flowering bullet is stable, and the burning rate of the medicine letter must be measured, and the range is how long the medicine letter is, and it is best to have a scale on the medicine letter, and then it will be cut. It is also necessary to calculate the extent of the explosion of the flowering shell, whether to require artillery coverage or key strikes in wartime, and arrange the firing of artillery according to the difference between the maximum range and the maximum effective range of the flowering shell. ”

Tao Qiqi nodded, a little fascinated for a while. Once when he came back from Hedong Road, he was also an artillery commander, commanding the breakthrough of Beizhou. After the city was broken, Beizhou was renamed Enzhou, which can be regarded as witnessing history. When he arrived at the Iron Prison, because he was obsessed with technology, he became a technical officer in the Iron Prison, and since then he has stabilized and has nothing to do with the army. If he had been following Du Zhongxiao, he should have joined the Yingtian Xiang Army like Thirteen Lang, and Yao Shouxin's position might be his own.

Everything was measured clearly, and Yao Shouxin said: "How many flowering bombs are still made by the iron supervisor?" I will arrange some more gunpowder and measure it several times, and be sure to measure the power of all kinds of guns and all kinds of bullets. When it comes time to go to war, these are crucial. ”

Tao Seventeen said: "There are more than a dozen in the iron prison, which we have prepared for testing. The rest of the test shells, because the gunpowder in them are different, and the shells are also different, there is no need to try them for you. ”

Yao Shouxin said: "That's natural, we all use it on a large scale during wartime, and the experiment is useless, just use it for yourself." ”

When people were busy, a shout came from afar: "Is it Seventeen Lang and Master Yao Pao?" I'm Wu Thirteen! ”

Yao Shouxin hurriedly answered, turned to look, and saw several figures on horseback standing in the distance.

After getting the news, Thirteen Lang brought a few people to the front, turned over and dismounted, and sang a promise to Yao Shouxin and Tao Seventeen. Said: "There is nothing to do in our army today, and I happened to get a few good guns, so I took people into the mountains to shoot some prey and try this gun." ”

Tao Qiqi saw that several of them were carrying newly-made sniper rifles, and hurriedly said: "Thirteen Lang, this is a newly-made sniper rifle, and it is extremely accurate." And the bullets used are all specially made, and the price is expensive, so it's easy not to try. Where did you get it from? Hunting with this gun is too generous! ”

Thirteen Lang said: "Our cavalry must use guns, and we must have good guns. There are new types of firearms, of course, you have to try them first. I originally summoned the three infantry division masters to come with me, but they said that they were too busy in the army to spare their time, so they came to you. ”

Yao Shou was happy with confidence and said, "We just tried a new type of flowering bomb, which is very useful. Get a new gun and give it a try! ”

The cost in the army is huge, and for several generals at the division level, what is the big deal about playing with new guns. Although the bullets are expensive, they are all recorded in the account of military expenses, and the number of people under a few people can range from thousands to nearly 10,000 people. Shisanro is in the iron prison, and when he was trying to make it, of course, the guns were also played casually. But it has been formed, and hunting with this kind of gun still feels like a waste.

Thirteen Lang pointed to the hill next to him and said, "This area is a training ground for artillery, gunner, you didn't arrange for your subordinates to test the artillery, right?" We're going to hunt in the area, catch some roe deer and go back and drink some wine! ”

Tao Seventeen said: "Slow, this is the artillery training ground, why hunt here?" Cannonballs don't have eyes, who knows where a shot will come, and hitting the head is not a game. Thirteen Lang, where is your cavalry training place? Let's get there! ”

Thirteen Lang laughed: "You have been in the iron prison for a few years, why have you become less courageous?" I'll tell you, even if a cannonball flies over your head, if you look carefully, you can dodge it. You are still trying the flowering bomb, isn't it not used in the army! ”

Where is Tao Seventeen willing to believe, so that Thirteen Lang must change places, otherwise he will go back to the iron prison.

Thirteen Lang and Tao Seventeen grew up together, the relationship is extraordinary, it is rare to have a chance to be together, how can you let it go? In desperation, I had to take everyone and turn two hills to the cavalry training ground.

There are hills in this area, there is no flat land, and there were no villages before. After the establishment of the Iron Prison, the local population was greatly concentrated, and many places were abandoned, except for the government-run farms. Within a few miles of this area, only a small village near the road and river survived because of a rich man who opened a small factory.