After the order was given, Liu Quan began to operate the new cannon with the gunners of the test team. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The gunners who could appear in front of His Majesty the Emperor were obviously first-class and capable soldiers, and Zhu Cihong looked at the gunners' operations from time to time, and his heart was slightly fluctuating.

Compared to artillery, gunners are often overlooked, and this is especially important in the armies of this era. For example, the old Ming and Qing armies tried to ignore the quality of the gunners.

Compared with cavalry and infantry, the quality requirements of artillery are obviously higher, artillery just want to know how to fire the cannon has complex regulations and steps, if you want to shoot the artillery accurately, it needs to be much higher than ordinary soldiers, and even higher than the cultural literacy of officers, such as mathematical knowledge, which is very scarce in this era.

This point was particularly lacking among the gunners of the Qing army, and when it fell into the hands of Zhu Cihong, he paid great attention to it.

In many cases, the importance of these artillery pieces in the military can even be compared to that of later generations of pilots. And the importance of artillery in this era to warfare can also be compared with the aircraft of later generations.

The gunners of the test team began to prepare.

They clearly have distinct responsibilities and have their own jobs.

Now, a gunner with the rank of sergeant on his armband went into action. He didn't seem to know that there was a big man on the scene today, and he was still babbling and teaching the artillerymen behind him how to manipulate this big guy.

The first is to wet the bore, artillery is not only a terrifying war beast that can devour the enemy's heaps of life, but in the same way, if the operation is not careful, lack of sufficient knowledge and carefulness, the cannon that causes the explosion will be the first to tear the gunner's body apart.

Wetting the chamber was a preparation for this.

At the same time, the sergeant carefully put on his leather gloves and pressed the ignition port with his thumb. While operating, the sergeant said carefully: "After firing, the temperature in the chamber will decrease rapidly, the chamber pressure will decrease, and the air will pour into the chamber from the ignition port. If there is unburned gunpowder and there is a remnant of sparks in the chamber, you have to think carefully about whether you can keep a complete pair of hands in the future. Remember, it's all about your safety! ”

"Now, install the kits and shells! Corporal, check if the medicine package is complete! Private Hu Yong, prepare to load! ”

"Compact the ammunition with a loading rod, compact! Didn't you even eat? ”

"Okay, now, look at me and use the awl to break the charge bag, which is for the ignition!"

……

The sergeant who roared loudly from time to time attracted everyone's attention, Liu Quan looked at it, and couldn't help explaining: "This sergeant is Qian Wujin, the sergeant squad leader of the test team. After the training, I did well in the assessment, but it took me a lot of effort to get it back. At present, there is a shortage of good artillery in the army, and new recruits have to be trained all the time. ”

"Sweat in peacetime, only in wartime can there be less bloodshed, and it is right to train soldiers all the time." Zhu Cihong was very appreciative.

Liu Quan was relieved to see that Zhu Cihong was not annoyed, but happy.

At this time, Qian Wujin began to cover the ignition port with one hand, although it was not raining and strong wind at this time, he still signaled to pay attention to the left and right to ensure that it was correct, and then inserted a cotton fuse into the ignition port.

Then, an even louder roar rang out: "Fire!" ”

Boom......

The fuse ignited, and the violently expanded gunpowder exploded with a hundredfold force, pushing the five-pound shell out of the muzzle with a force that could not be matched by manpower, blooming sparks, flying thousands of steps and landing on a wall.

With a bang, the wall of masonry burst into a burst of yellow clouds.

There was a burst of exclamation.

The gun wagons then began to move, taking turns firing in the east, west, and north directions. In half an hour, the guns mounted on the gun carriage were moved two hundred paces, and a total of six rounds of fire were fired in three directions.

Looking at the two accurate hits a thousand steps away, Liu Quan couldn't help but clench his fists and laugh: "Shengshang, the new artillery carriage is really good!" ”

"This mobility has finally improved." Zhu Cihong praised: "After a while, ask the soldiers what they think of the gun carriage." Commendation is to be given. Well, the armory workshop needs to keep up the good work. ”

Zhu Cihong was a little happy in his heart, but he also felt a little strange. The speed of the gun carriage has increased, but it does not seem to be as revolutionary as imagined.

On the side, listening to the praise of the two, Zhao Zhenhui was both excited and proud, and when he heard the words, he said again and again: "Obey the teachings of the saints, and set up stronger armaments for my Ming strong army!" In fact, in addition to the improved mobility of the gun carriage, this new cannon also has changes in this shell! ”

"Previously, the Holy Lord asked the craftsman compound to develop cannonballs that could burst after landing...... As a result, the Armory Workshop also developed a cannonball, which was tentatively named the Blossom Shell in the workshop. Please also ask General Liu to order preparation! Zhao Zhenhui said.

Zhu Cihong had already paid attention to this new object that was different from other shells.

The shell, which Zhao Zhenhui called a flowering shell, was black and spherical in shape, and it looked no different, but Zhu Cihong understood that this would be another upgrade in the power of artillery.

For people who don't know the artillery situation of the Ming Dynasty, shells may be an easy place to ignore.

In this era, the artillery used by the cannon was not a place where a large area was blown up by one cannon. Although it was rumored in later generations that Ning Yuan Dajieli killed Nurhachi's Hongyi cannon used flowering shells, this point is quite doubtful. Because, Zhu Cihong gathered skilled craftsmen from all over the world to enter Beijing, but he did not find a reliable flowering projectile technology.

Of course, there are also those weapons in the army that have a large number of guns. It's just that it's close-range artillery such as the Tiger Squat Cannon, and the shotgun used by the little Furlong machine has no lethality if it exceeds thirty meters.

This time, the flowering bullet developed by the Jingshi Ordnance Workshop is obviously not that kind of shotgun. To be precise, this is a shrapnel.

On the side, Zhao Zhenhui began to excitedly introduce the more detailed places of the flowering bomb.

This is clearly a weapon that is ahead of the world.

This kind of flowering bomb structure made by the Ming Dynasty is to put a number of iron or lead projectiles and initiating charges into the bomb body, and a delay fuse controls its detonation at a suitable height and distance. When the detonator explodes the projectile, the projectile will fly at the enemy in front of it at its previous speed, and it will be as powerful as a shotgun at close range. Similarly, shrapnel can still be used by new cannons to shoot at long distances, gaining range while retaining their power.

Of course, whether the shrapnel can effectively exert its power depends on whether the fuse can accurately detonate the initiating charge at the predetermined position, and this needs to be ensured by the experience of the gunner and the reliability of the fuse.

After all, military science and technology in this era were generally not developed. So much so that the artillerymen on the side began to secretly underestimate that after their statistics, the odds of a grenade shotgun detonating in the right place were no higher than the odds of shooting a single target 200 yards away and hitting it with an old-fashioned bird's gun.

Rao is so, and everyone is still looking forward to the use of the flower bomb this time.

Soon, Qian Wujin, a sergeant of the artillery test team, began to lead the soldiers to operate the artillery. This time, the artillery was towed out of the workshop. There, there is a barren mountain with no people, which is just right to test the power of artillery.

After the same cleaning of the chamber, the long-awaited shelling test began.

The soldiers in the workshop area drove a herd of fat-headed pigs and grazing sheep to the foot of the barren mountain, followed by a few cooks. Obviously, this is the meat dish that the workshop area intends to slaughter today.

The cooks were obviously not very aware of the situation, and they were driven aside after leaving the pigs and sheep, and they were a little puzzled.

"The pigs and sheep are gone, what can I do with this night's dishes?"

"I haven't killed the pig yet, but I'll be back in a while, how much time will be wasted. If you miss a point, you can't be scolded by those uncles? ”

"Big brother, you can't harm us!"

……

The sergeant who handed over took a look at it, laughed and said, "Don't worry, I have already called someone to go directly to buy meat." The problem of killing pigs and sheep...... I don't think you need to worry about it for a while. It's time to clean it, I'm afraid it's a little troublesome. ”

A few of the cooks sensed something was wrong.

It was, a dull voice like thunder.

A few cooks have been here for a while, knowing that artillery crafting will be tested here. But when I heard it at this moment, I couldn't help but jump in shock.

Soon, they were even more shaken, and they all froze, unable to move their feet.

In front of them, on the wasteland at the foot of the mountain that had just led more than 20 pigs and sheep over, a sea of fire was already rising. The sheep that were eating the weeds leisurely and the pigs who were walking happily are now in the fire. When the fire dissipated, an even more tragic scene came into view, causing everyone's stomachs to churn.

At this moment, in the wasteland at the foot of the mountain, there is no longer a complete pig or sheep. After the burst, the shrapnel scattered with strong kinetic energy and sharp iron pieces cut through the flesh and blood, easily taking away the lives of more than 20 pigs and sheep.

On the ground, there was a blur of flesh and blood, and the scene was like a hellish Shura.

"This ...... Is this a heavenly punishment? A cook asked in a daze, and sat down on the ground, staring desperately at his steps and retreating.

When the rest of the people saw this, they also reacted one after another and retreated one after another, as if they could have a greater sense of security.

At the same time, on the test site, everyone invariably put down their goggles and carefully looked at the artillery in front of them.

"That's it...... The power of the Blossom Bullet? When Fang Yizhi saw it, he couldn't help but be deeply shaken, muttering, and couldn't help but marvel again and again.

On the side, Zhao Zhenhui said proudly: "In order to achieve such research and development results, the workshop has really worked hard, and it has been done." ”

Saying that, Zhao Zhenhui couldn't help but babble about the research and development process of the workshop.

At the beginning, the projectile in the shrapnel developed at the beginning is simply loaded in the projectile body, and will roll freely inside the projectile body after launching, which will bring about a change in the center of gravity, which will affect the shooting accuracy of the shell, and even cause the shell to explode in advance due to the friction between the projectile and the internal detonator, which will not only fail to kill the enemy, but also injure one's own people by mistake.

Obviously, such a flowering bomb will not pass the acceptance, and the craftsmen in the workshop are also gray-haired.

They also planned to ask the craftsman compound for help, but after the craftsman compound knew that the ordnance workshop planned to develop it by itself, they were very unhappy and went to develop it on their own, and they didn't care.

For this reason, there was a lot of emotion in the ordnance workshop, determined to give some arrogant craftsmen a good look.

Thanks to the measures that the ordnance workshop intends to develop by itself, the ordnance workshop is unprecedentedly united, and Zhao Zhenhui has repeatedly mobilized the old craftsmen in the staff workshop, shamelessly asking, and widely announced and offered rewards. Eventually, they were supported in another R&D project.

And this is an incendiary project.

Different from the feudal society that closed off the country in the impression of later generations, there were actually quite a lot of foreigners in the Ming Dynasty, and the cultural exchanges between China and the West can be said to be far greater than that of the later Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, the project of this incendiary bomb is based on a legendary Greek fire. It was also advocated by some national nihilists in later generations as the source of real gunpowder. Of course, this so-called Greek fire was actually brought to Constantinople by a Syrian named Galiniko. This fire-burning weapon on water was the basis for the Byzantine Empire to defeat powerful enemies on several occasions. Of course, it's not gunpowder.

Although it is not a gunpowder weapon, as a thermal weapon, the Privy Council also paid attention to it and established a project, and part of the R&D and manufacturing work also fell on the ordnance workshop.

Greek fire is an example of a petroleum product. And Daming naturally has a history of oil use. Not to mention anything else, Shaanxi has always had the experience of small-scale oil discovery and use. In later generations, there was a Yanchang oil field.

The stones of other mountains can be used to attack jade, and the asphalt and tar produced in the incendiary bomb project soon became the key to creating an effective flowering bomb in the Beijing Ordnance Workshop this time.

Eventually, the Ordnance Workshop's master craftsmen held the projectile in place with a mixture of sulfur, bitumen, tar, and coal, which solidified into a solid with honeycomb holes, but was more or less shattered by the force of the impact when fired.

Not only that, the projectile of the flowering projectile is mounted in the front of the projectile body, separated by an iron divider and the detonator at the rear, and the tail is equipped with a cup-shaped tail pad that prevents the projectile from tumbling in the barrel and expands under the gas pressure when fired to hold the breath.

In addition, due to its design, the whole projectile is light at the back and heavy at the front, and the unique shape after combining the tail pad makes its flight quite stable and its accuracy jumps significantly.

When the time-delay fuse detonates the initiating charge, the iron partition pushes the projectiles forward at the same time as the body is blown open, so that they are fired forward at a cone angle, instead of being scattered irregularly like other shrapnel shells, so that the power is even more powerful.

With this series of improvements that transcend the times, the new flowering bullet of the Armory Workshop is naturally ten times more powerful than in the past! (To be continued.) )