The completion of the artillery represents a certain stage in the development of the Dinghai Navy, even if the copper cannon cannot withstand the explosive strength of nitrocellulose, but as long as the black powder can withstand it, it will become a big killer.

The benefits of nitrocellulose are most important in smokeless, and the increase in power is of little use in this era.

Human warfare, from the melee fighting, gradually expanded outward, starting from the bow and crossbow, long-range weapons are the most important factor in the war, except for a small number of wars, most of them are long-range weapons have the upper hand.

The Northern Song Dynasty lacked horses, and when the cavalry was the most mobile type of troops in the entire cold weapon era, the lack of horses represented the lack of mobility, but what really cut off the Han people was the Mongolian light cavalry.

When cavalry was perfectly combined with bows and arrows, and cavalry archery appeared, no single class was a match for the Mongol cavalry.

But thermal weapons are another concept, more than 100 years after Mongolia occupied the Central Plains, Zhu Yuanzhang led the musketeers to drive Mongolia back to the grassland again, which is also the role of long-range weapons.

Artillery is another concept, in the ordinary long-range weapons, still concentrated between 100 meters and 200 meters, artillery, in the first appeared, at least about 500 meters, with the increase of power, the range of artillery has also increased significantly.

However, if there can be nitrocellulose, of course, it is better, you can use a lower caliber, bring more power, under the premise of the same weight, the greater the force, the speed of the object, the farther the distance.

This is not something that can be accomplished in a day or two, and the research on thermal weapons is a long-term and lengthy process, and it is already good that the Navy can reach this foundation under the current premise.

Not only has the preliminary smoothbore gun been made, and it is being transformed in front of him, perhaps, after the stamping and mechanical improvement, its cost will be reduced, and its quality will be improved, and the artillery has also completed the preliminary development, and the planned artillery has appeared, if it is not for Zhao Xin's obstruction, perhaps, the first batch of 100 copper cannons will be ordered for production.

The combination of sail warship and artillery, that is a perfect combination, in the age of sail, has been proven countless times, a huge sail warship, can have 40 to 140 guns, when three layers, or even four or five layers of deck, all the artillery develop together, that kind of power, is simply earth-shattering,

If it's just land, maybe some lighter ones can be equipped with mass production, and land warfare is more of the pursuit of power and portability, and the range requirements are not high.

But on the sea, the sea is vast, the water level is the flattest, he represents 0 meters above sea level, here, except for a few islands, the rest is unobstructed, there is no suddenness.

In naval warfare, the two sides are in constant attack, continuous, in the era of sails, after being equipped with artillery, like a strong samurai, constantly attacking and defending, until one side is beaten down.

The longer range also means a faster attack, and even a non-damaging attack with a kite if you have better speed and better control.

It is precisely like this, coupled with the fact that there are no forces around, and there are no forces that can threaten the Dinghai Navy, and for the time being, the current military strength is enough, and there is time, and stronger weapons can be researched.

Whether it is a musket or an artillery, it will take time to completely leapfrog, that is, to set the navy, have a steel plant, and Zhao Xin's card system, so that it has such a rapid development, and the development of the Northern Song Dynasty alone may take at least a few hundred years, or under the oppression of war, if not, it will take longer.

Zhao Xin's role in this matter is to guide the direction at the beginning, and after basically knowing the mechanism of the artillery and pressing the preliminary construction, the rest is a water mill, in this case, he can play a limited role.

Dingjun has now developed into a huge city, not only with a population of more than 2 million, but also with an increase of 3-50,000 people every month, and maybe it can break through 2.5 million in the New Year, and then a Spring Festival opportunity can attract one or two million.

This is not nonsense, according to the statistics of the Dinghai Navy on the source of population, at the beginning, the population of the Dinghai Navy was around the two Huai, but with the influence and the acceleration of the speed of transmission, the influence of the Dinghai Navy began to gradually go inland.

Take the past two months, a total of about 90,000 people, of which, the staff of Lianghuai has been reduced to 20,000, but Liangzhejiang Road and Jingdong Road began to increase, and the total number of people has reached 40,000, which is twice as much as Lianghuai, but they are a direction.

In the same way, there are even those who come from the northwest as farthest, and I think it is because of the introduction of the caravan or other reasons, these people are seeds in Zhao Xin's opinion.

has been sucking the blood of Lianghuai, this is not what Zhao Xin wants to see, there are only a few people in Lianghuai, according to historical records, a total of only 1.3 million, in fact, plus the hidden, there are still some homeless people, about 2 million.

The population of the Dinghai Navy exceeded 2 million, and the number of people attracted from Lianghuai was probably between 600,000 and 700,000, most of whom were disaster victims, and it was precisely because of this that it did not cause panic among local officials.

Although, in fact, these immigrants have been stationed in Lianghuai, except for the disaster victims, their household registration has not been moved, and the annual arrangement of forced labor and miscellaneous labor has not been canceled.

However, these are not much of a problem for these people who have stabilized in the Dinghai Navy.

The conscription of the Northern Song Dynasty can almost be bought with money, to put it bluntly, it's time for you to execute, you can't execute it, you can use the method of spending money to buy it, buy people to execute, this is also a workaround.

How can ordinary people give it, even if it is a second- or third-class household, unless it is a dangerous kind, they will not buy it, but in Dinghai, it is really not bad for money.

The minimum income a month is 30 guan, even if only one person goes to work, you can support the family, and the most money for servitude is the same, that is, it is the appearance of several guan, and it is only once in a few years, and when it is your turn, it is over if you give the money directly.

Because of this method, don't look at the rural areas of Lianghuai now, the population has been reduced on a large scale, but in fact, these people are all on the household registration.

For the ruling method of the feudal dynasty, the decree extended to the county at most, to the countryside, basically, it was the clan system of the three elders, and sometimes, the clan system was greater than the national law.

Ordinary deaths of individuals will also alarm the government, and the government will at least ask how he died and whether there is a problem.

However, the clan carried out the family law, and if it was killed, it was killed, and at most the official came to ask, and then the reply was over.

As long as there are a lot of things that should be paid, who will care and where the people go.

This also has huge benefits for the Dinghai Navy, and Zhao Xin did not want to attract the attention of the Northern Song Dynasty before the Dinghai Navy became completely strong.

After 2 years of development, in fact, the Dinghai Navy has become very strong, and it has been completed in the weakest link of sail warships and artillery, to say the least, the Dinghai Navy has become invincible.

The fortress around the Dinghai Navy is frenzied to five or six hundred meters, and the special kerosene lamps are illuminated at night, almost day and night, and there are no dead ends, and the sail battleship itself uses a strong crossbow, which is already powerful enough, if you add artillery, with the naval army of this era, the strait of a short period of dozens of miles will be a damnation.

At present, with more than 2 million personnel, a certain domestic demand market has been formed, but this domestic demand market is very weak.

Dinghai is just a small island with 300 square kilometers, there is no room for maneuver, and the population is 2 million, once something goes wrong and causes panic, 2 years is not enough time to cultivate loyalty.

Only when Yizhou gets its hands on it, and then develops it, sits on two islands, and has a population of at least 8 million, will Zhao Xin choose to be exposed.

Similarly, because of Renzong's relationship, even after being exposed, he would not tear his face, the Northern Song Dynasty was a dynasty with a prosperous literary name, and if possible, he would prefer a peaceful takeover rather than a war.

Now, the tentacles to more places, now the source of the population of the Dinghai Navy, has been gradually extended from the two Huai, Zhejiang, Jingdong two roads, the current population source, has increased to 18 provinces, and the total population of more than 50,000, has also increased to 12 provinces, that is to say, again with this year's New Year expansion, Dinghai, will definitely be able to get more population.

The only pity is that the farther the road is, similar to Lianghuai, or Liangzhejiang, come to see, and after seeing, there are very few left.

All those who come here are unable to survive, or seek change, they are at the bottom of society, and they are the weakest, but not the largest number, because of the distance.

In the feudal dynasty, 30 miles, 50 miles, is already a long way, according to the speed of walking, 30 miles will take a day, 50 miles, basically two days, even with the help of livestock, at most 50 miles a day.

Such a distance, even if it is two Huai, there are many places, not to mention other places, let alone other places, just say Jingdong Road, the farthest place, almost more than 1,000 miles, which is a very difficult journey for the poor people of this era.

Of course, Zhao Xin did not pin all his hopes on automatic, this is impossible, he is ready to prepare some carriages and the like during the Chinese New Year, go to those places, and then pick up those who are willing to come, which is a great promotion for the Dingjun.

At this time, Zhao Xin was looking forward to the railway, if there was a developed railway in the Northern Song Dynasty now, even if it was only driven by a horse-drawn train, the daily speed would be able to reach more than 400 miles, and the distance of thousands of miles would no longer be a distant journey, but only two and a half days.

The cost of time, at any time, is very useful, especially for the poor people, if there is a railway, even if these people who go to Dinghai, they have no money to buy tickets, Dinghai can also build agencies in various places, as long as people are sent to the train, naturally there are people in Haizhou to receive them.

It's a pity that the current railway is still under construction, this is related to the future, and even the Northern Song Dynasty is a very huge project, it is still in progress, the Dinghai Navy sent a lot of personnel, and also used a lot of machinery, but a railway from Tokyo to Yingtianfu, at least it takes 40 to 50 days to complete.

This is still an optimistic idea, in the current state, the fault tolerance rate of railway construction is very low, any link problems, will affect the construction of the entire railway.

Even if he is in Dingjun, which is thousands of miles away, such a key project, Zhao Xin is also very concerned, almost every week, there will be progress about the railway, once there is a problem, he will do his best to solve it, but fortunately, everything is fine.

However, even if it is the railway from Tokyo to Yingtianfu, the completion of the construction will not have any benefit for this immigrant, it is only a railway of less than 300 miles, and it is at the core of the entire Northern Song Dynasty, from Tokyo to Yingtianfu.

It was a railway connecting the two capitals of the Northern Song Dynasty, perhaps in terms of busyness, very high, he would become a favorable supplement to the Bianhe River, to solve the dry season and freezing season, from the canal to Bianliang transportation problems, but to determine the navy, absorb the population, there is no benefit.

The next few years will be a few years of rapid development of the navy, and it can be said unceremoniously that the future population of the navy will be 3 million, 5 million, or 10 million, depending on the absorption status in the past few years.

Zhao Xin has already negotiated with the northwest that nearly 20,000 horses will be organized, and at the same time, orders have been placed by the Dinghai Navy in the factories of the Dinghai Navy and in many carpentry workshops in the entire Northern Song Dynasty.

A total of 15,000 horse-drawn carriages, although it is still a traditional two-wheeled carriage, the road environment of the entire Northern Song Dynasty, smooth road surface, and official roads, not a lot, although the four-wheeled carriage in the planting capacity, compared with the two-wheeled one, is 4 times larger, and the comfort is also higher, but in the Northern Song Dynasty, except for a few official roads, only in the Dinghai Navy repaired, and the road smoothed with cement, can run smoothly.

The transportation capacity of 15,000 horse-drawn carriages is very amazing, if you don't consider carrying a large amount of furniture, a carriage can seat at least 8 people, and complete the transportation of 120,000 people at one time, this feat can only be done by the Dinghai Navy.

Such a long-distance, more than 1,000 miles, can be reached in four or five days, closer, maybe only one or two days, before and after the Spring Festival more than one month, or even two months, can go back and forth an average of 15 times, which is almost 1.8 million people.

The ideal state is like this, Zhao Xin also knows that it is impossible to reach so many people at once, but he will work in that direction, as long as the Spring Festival next year, the population can increase by 1 million, plus the annual growth, it is expected that next year, the population of the Dinghai Navy will reach 4 million, which can be regarded as a preliminary meeting of the needs of the Dinghai.