The Napoleon cannon is a smoothbore cannon named after the French Emperor Napoleon III, which is highly mobile, fierce, extremely simple to manufacture and use, cast in bronze, and was used extensively until the American Civil War in the 19th century. The Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info the Union Army named it the M1857 12-pounder field cannon. Its 117mm bore is capable of firing heavy iron shells weighing up to 12 pounds (5.44 kg). When firing at an elevation angle of 5 °, the effective range is up to 1600 yards (1480 meters).

According to the actual combat examples of the American Civil War, this kind of artillery can hit targets the size of a barn 1,600 yards away, which can be regarded as very accurate in the era of smoothbore guns. Because bronze can be cast, the process is relatively simple, and some people on the Internet say that they can be cast in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which can be described as a crossing artifact.

Xia Nan interrupted Lin Weiye's introduction: "Is this cannon the Hongyi cannon that can kill the Ming army in seconds?" Multiple? ”

Lin Weiye said contemptuously: "The Hongyi cannon is imitated by the early British naval guns, and the heaviest Hongyi cannon is only at the level of an 18-pounder gun, not to mention the casting level of the Ming Dynasty at this time, whether it is range, power or accuracy, it is not worthy of carrying shoes for Napoleon's cannon." In addition, the Hongyi cannon is generally used to defend the city, and the field battles are all used with small cannons such as the Furlong machine - this kind of cannon is more like a more powerful carrying gun, and it is just scum in front of Napoleon's cannon! ”

As for the weight of the Napoleon gun, Lin Weiye thought for a while: "If calculated according to the bronze material, the barrel weight is about more than 1,200 pounds, that is, more than 550 kilograms, with the gun truck, front trailer and ammunition box, it is about more than 3,800 pounds, more than 1,700 kilograms." ”

Xia Nan thought about it for a while, a full set of equipment for a cannon weighs nearly two tons, with the current scale of the escort team, there is no animal power available, just transporting this cannon to the battlefield will take up a lot of manpower, it is not cost-effective. He shook his head and rejected the choice.

"Without the size of a force of a few thousand people, without cattle and horses to tow, this kind of artillery loses its value, and I need smaller guns."

As a senior military fan, Lin Weiye admired Napoleon guns very much, and was very unwilling after being denied, he tentatively said: "The density of iron is smaller than that of copper, what if it is replaced with gray iron to reduce weight?" ”

"I've also studied physics, and the density of iron is finite than copper, so how much weight can be saved? What's more, gray iron can't be smelted at present. Besides, this cannon is used to kill the local soldiers who cut off the foot, and the firepower is too excessive, which is too wasteful. ”

Lin Weiye still didn't give up: "You don't need a big Napoleon, then there is a little Napoleon cannon!" ”

In fact, it was not only the M1857 12-pounder field gun that was called "Napoleon", but the old M1841 6-pounder field gun was also honored to bear this name - even now, many fans of the Civil War reenactment club still distinguish between the two weapons by "Napoleon the Great" and "Little Napoleon".

The focus of Xia Nan's concern was not whether to call the Napoleonic cannon: "What about the range?" What about power? What about the weight? ”

Lin Weiye introduced: "The range is shorter, less than 200 meters, as for the power, it is said that the big Napoleon can penetrate 100 people within 600 meters, and the little Napoleon can penetrate 50 people within 200 meters." The weight is a lot lighter, the barrel is less than 400 kg, and the gun carriage can be made a little smaller, and the total weight is estimated at 1400 kg. ”

Xia Nan felt a little toothache: "You mean, this cannon is more than half less powerful than the previous one, and it is only 300 kilograms lighter?" "1400 kilograms is also close to a ton and a half, the size is not much smaller, but the power has dropped so much, Xia Nan doesn't think this cannon is any good, and directly denies it.

Lin Weiye sighed: "You don't know how to appreciate, this kind of 6-pounder gun is a standard equipment in the hands of Napoleon III, and it is an indispensable part of the French artillery system." ”

Xia Nan was indifferent: "Tell me what other cannons." ”

"According to your standards, I'm afraid there is only a 12-pound mountain howitzer, the weight will definitely meet your requirements, the gun body is only 100 kilograms, plus the gun carriage and artillery carriage is only more than 220 kilograms, a donkey can be dragged and run, and it can be split, three donkeys can climb mountains and wade through water, not limited by terrain."

Xia Nan patted his thigh: "Damn, you didn't say it earlier." This is the little cannon I want! "The total weight is only more than 400 pounds, and after splitting, you can also carry it up the mountain on your back, which is a sharp weapon for opponents like chopping feet."

Lin Weiye was even more obsessed with heavy artillery, and said sourly: "Don't say I didn't remind you, the power and range of this cannon are almost meaningless." Although it has the same caliber as Napoleon, the range is nearly half shorter, and the solid bullet is about 700 meters in actual combat, and the hollow grenade is only 900 meters. In the Civil War, even a 6-pounder gun could suppress it at range. ”

Xia Nan didn't care: "This range is enough, the most important thing is light." As for the suppression of artillery, my Lin Da Engineer, you are stupid, do our opponents have artillery? I approached 300 meters and still had a chrysanthemum with a fierce yellow armor! ”

Lin Weiye was stunned, as if this was the case, and couldn't help but feel ashamed secretly, isn't this dogmatism? Always using the standards of the Civil War, completely forgetting that it was only the early 17th century, and most of the opponents he faced did not even have firearms.

After the gun type was determined, the production of the iron mold began. Although it was only a temporary casting of two trials, Lin Weiye still meticulously made the clay molds, directing the craftsmen to build the clay cannons strictly according to the caliber length of the 12-pound mountain grenade, dividing them into two and cutting the inner wall with iron plates to make them extremely smooth, laying the foundation for the recasting of excellent iron molds. In his opinion, whether it is to make guns or cast guns, as long as it is industrial production, whether it is manual or machine assembly operation, there is no concept of temporary numbering, and it must be rigorous.

It took two days to dry the mud cannon, and the iron mold was formed quickly after pouring the molten iron. Then, according to the process of Gong Zhenlin's "Diagram of Casting Cannon Iron Mold", the inner surface of the mold is brushed with fine rice husk ash and fine sand mud and water to form a coating, and then the second layer of paint prepared by extremely fine coal powder is painted, which is to prevent the molten iron from sticking to the iron mold. Then tighten the iron mold, bake and assemble the mud core, and pour in the molten iron. After waiting for the molten iron to solidify, remove the burrs while the gun body is still red-hot, and then remove the mud core, which is the finished product. In the same way, Lin Weiye also built some spherical solid bullets for use in testing artillery.

However, as a traverser, Lin Weiye will naturally not stop there. The cannon made in this way, even if the inner and outer walls of the cannon body made of iron mold are relatively smooth, and some burrs are removed, and the material is still white iron, which is too brittle compared to gray iron, and it is still easy to explode. In this way, it is necessary to sacrifice a big killing weapon - graphitization annealing.