The scene of the cannon rumbling and firing a solid bullet is actually like that, in Lu Zhe's opinion, it is a scene that cannot be smaller, it is nothing more than a "boom" The cannon body shook, and then the solid bullet flew out of a distance and smashed to the ground, smashing the dirt everywhere, and then the solid bullet rolled forward.

Except for Lu Zhe, a group of people who had never seen artillery firing were stunned when they saw that scene, and after staying for a while, they showed shocked expressions, and then they talked to themselves one by one.

In fact, it is completely understandable that people will always feel novel when they find things they have not seen, and they will only take it for granted after getting used to a thing, the production of any military equipment will always bring more novelty, artillery is an epoch-making product in military history, and its appearance has directly changed the way the war is conducted, ordinary people will only be shocked when they see the artillery firing, but the military generals will definitely not be simply shocked after seeing the artillery fired.

"The flight distance is 1,823 meters!"

An observer reported the distance of the shell's landing point, and waiting for the gunner to clear the chamber, Lu Zhe took the lead and walked in, and then a large group of people hurriedly followed.

"Eighteen hundred and twenty-three meters at a seven-degree elevation angle?" Lu Zhe looked at a scale on the gun carriage that supported the gun body, and he looked at the landing point of the shell: "According to the specifications of the projectile, the artillery is a nine-pound gun, and if it can fly more than 1,800 meters, it means that the artillery has been qualified, but it is about 100 meters shorter than the flight distance of the nine-pound gun in a mature background." ”

That's right, the created cannon was a 104 mm bronze cannon. Because it is a solid projectile, it is determined according to the weight of the projectile that is customary, and it is not named as a millimeter gun according to the caliber of the gun itself, after all, the gun fires a solid projectile. This is the British way of calculating it, as the measured "pound" itself is the British standard.

The artillery placed in Lu Zhe and a group of military bigwigs, it was finalized after a long time of imperial military experiments, with a caliber of 104 mm. The length of the gun barrel is 2.2 meters, the weight without the gun carriage is 1,400 catties, and the weight with the gun carriage is more than 2,100 catties.

"More than 1,800 meters!" Ji Bu "tsk" a string, in a tone full of shock: "Our largest ballista can only hit less than 800 meters at most, this thing is directly more than twice as much, and looking at the power of the projectile after hitting the ground, it is much more than a ballista!" ”

Can it be compared? It's not comparable at all! What kind of air-breaking flight speed does the ballista fire from the round stone ball, and what is the speed of the projectile fired by the artillery, one is to throw it, and the other is to shoot under the thrust of the artillery explosion. How can the flight speed of the projectile be the same. And how fast the projectile flies means how powerful it is, or how to call it a cold weapon and a hot weapon.

Lu Zhe was also full of joy, he didn't touch the cannon body, the bronze cannon just fired is still very hot now, it is stupid to touch it, he is half touching and half supporting the gun carriage, touching the wheel, and then touching the support frame, and then touching the scale table with love: "It's full of science." It's just that it's a little troublesome when it's loaded. ”

The biggest invention that came with the advent of artillery was the gun mount, because only a reasonable gun mount could make the gun play its maximum range. The qualified gun carriage is definitely not so simple, for the fixation of the gun body is a science, and the calculation of the elevation angle of the gun body and the gun mount is the most important.

"The lowest angle of fire is 1.25 degrees. The shooting distance is about 800 meters," Lu Zhe actually wanted to "tsk" and feel it, but he couldn't do it, and after taking a deep breath, he was a little regretful: "It's a pity that it's a front-loading type." It is difficult to shoot flat and down. ”

What kind of joke? Any front-loading gun is difficult to fire in a down-on, since the projectile rolls out on its own.

Flat fire is not ordinarily difficult for front-loading guns, and even the most experienced gunners dare not try it easily. That's because there is no guarantee that the projectile is connected to the gunpowder when firing horizontally, and once the projectile after ignition is far away from the gunpowder, then there will be an explosion after the distance, because a series of reactions in the barrel can only wait for the entire gun body to become a large firecracker.

Lu Zhe went to operate the winch with his own hands, it was a winch with gears, and after holding the handle with his hand, he shook it, and the front end of the barrel would rise when he pushed it forward, and the front end of the barrel would go down when he pushed it back, because there was a lifting device to support the gun body.

"Test it as soon as possible to see if the gun body needs to re-verify the elevation angle after a few firings." Letting go of the winch grip, Lu Zhe turned his head and said loudly to a person.

Artillery firing will produce vibration, and the vibration here does not mean that the wheels of the gun carriage will retreat, but specifically refers to the deflection of the gears of the elevation equipment affected by the vibration.

The master craftsman who heard Lu Zhe's words hurriedly nodded.

Master Master was a middle-aged man in his forties, his name was Craftsman Kuo, and he was himself a fifth-class baron of the Empire. He, a fifth-class baron, was not rewarded for making artillery, but for being the first to develop the smelting method of steel. Now, he is in charge of the research and manufacture of artillery, and he will definitely gain something again in his title, both physically and mentally.

"Stand back, stand back, fire a few more times." Lu Zhe beckoned a large group of people to retreat to a safe enough distance.

According to normal history, the initial stage of front-loading artillery was to carry out bulk gunpowder loading, but what kind of person is Lu Zhe, how could he stupidly carry out bulk gunpowder after researching artillery, of course, it is to package gunpowder after measurement, and when you want to fire, you only need to send the metered gunpowder bag into the gun chamber, and then install the fuse and projectile to launch.

"Clearing!"

"The gunpowder package is filled!"

"The fuse is set!"

"Projectile reloaded!"

It sounds like a series of slogans, and it looks like a lot of busy artillerymen.

There were two rippers, and they were really clearing, first to cool the barrel as necessary, and then to clean it with a kind of wrapped stick and brush. The process of clearing the gun was to lower the front end of the gun, and take the stick and poke it again and again, until the white cloth did not look like the dregs of gunpowder had burned.

The loading of the gunpowder bag is not difficult, the measured powder bag is placed in the barrel of the gun, and then a gunner takes a stick with a thick stick tied to the front end and repeatedly pokes the gunpowder bag until it is sure that the gunpowder bag has reached the position where it should be.

The installation of the fuse is a technical task, but it is nothing more than cleaning a small hole in the back of the gun, making sure that there is no gunpowder residue, and also confirming that the fuse is in the correct position. The so-called correct position is important, not only to ensure that the fuse is connected to the powder pack. The length of the fuse is also ensured. Usually a wooden fork is held and poked along the small hole, under which the cloth of the gunpowder bag will be damaged, and then the fuse is poked into it again with a wooden fork, and then the necessary sealing is necessary around the small hole.

Ji Bu watched intently as one of the artillerymen picked up a projectile from a wooden box, while another artilleryman turned the turntable to tilt the gun up slightly, and then the artilleryman holding the projectile put the shell in his arms into the barrel.

Far away, naturally you can't hear the sound of the projectile rolling in the barrel, you can only see the barrel starting to rise after the projectile is placed, and then the gun commander's shout asking for firing.

"Have I ever been here?" Jib thought everything was too interesting.

How long has it been since the artillery came out? It was not that there had been no explosion accidents during the test, and Lu Zhe didn't want one of his generals to be blown apart because of the accident.

Jibu was disappointed, and some of the people who wanted to try it could only endure it.

The artillery adjusted the elevation angle, and there was a "boom" again. The cannon in action first rattled and then the wheels of the gun carriage retreated a little distance due to a force. The artillery carriage retreated, and naturally some artillery would push the wheels to the original position, and at this time the projectile fired out could be regarded as landing.

"One thousand eight hundred and forty-three meters!"

The observer reported the number again, the same elevation angle, but this time the direction of the projectile landing point was about six meters to the left in a straight line compared with the first launch, and the ammunition flew twenty meters more than the first time before landing.

"Sure enough, you can't ask for any precision." Lu Zhe was not disappointed, and the bronze cannon he produced was about the level of the Napoleonic era. And not the modern kind of artillery.

In fact, even modern artillery cannot guarantee a certain accuracy, and the lateral angle change of the shell is something that cannot be changed when the gun is fired, not necessarily the change in the aiming angle that causes the lateral angle to change, but also the strength of the wind and the humidity in the air. In many cases, if the wind direction changes slightly, the shells that quickly break through the air will be dragged by the wind to change the trajectory, and the longer the range, the worse the accuracy of the artillery, and it is impossible to avoid it.

"Six meters offset. It's already very accurate! "Lu Zhe ordered the artillery to fire a few more rounds.

The same gun was fired repeatedly, and the fifth firing was only three meters offset, except for the second six-meter offset. The worst result was a deviation of twenty-three meters.

"Excellent! Very good! Lu Zhe could only be satisfied with the test results: "Can it be mass-produced?" ”

Jiang Kuo stood next to Lu Zhe, and immediately replied when he heard this: "Your Majesty, the 104 mm caliber can already be mass-produced; The 115 mm and 131 mm have also been perfected, and will soon be able to be finalized and mass-produced as much as possible; The 144 mm and 159 mm are not in mass production for the time being. ”

104 mm is a nine-pounder, 115 mm is a twelve-pounder, 131 mm is an eighteen-pounder, 144 mm is a twenty-four-pounder, and 159 mm is a thirty-two-pounder.

In fact, artillery should also be divided into mountain artillery, mortar artillery, cannon, and howitzer, but Lu Zhe can't have so many types of artillery now, and because the technology is not up to standard, there are only solid bullets, such as flowering bombs and grenades, which can't be made at all, but shotguns do.

The difference between the first generation of guns was according to the type of projectile fired, and the solid bullet was a standard projectile, and it was also the best projectile to manufacture and fire, which can be adapted to all barrels. Solid bullets are also a kind of projectile with the longest range, such as a shotgun is a shell loaded with dozens of lead bullets, and the firing distance is actually unwilling, but the shotgun is a fan-shaped spray state after launching, and shooting at the infantry will reach a terrifying power.

In addition, it must be recognized that it is not possible to produce all caliber artillery with one caliber artillery manufacturing technology, and it is absolutely a layman among laymen to think that all calibers can be produced with one caliber.

The caliber of the gun and the length of the barrel are closely related, what kind of caliber can have a layout on the barrel is a rigorous science, the caliber can be adjusted appropriately, but the barrel must ensure rationality, what caliber of the gun has what kind of diameter will be related to the accuracy and range of the artillery, many times not the longer or shorter the barrel, the better, the caliber of the gun and the diameter of the barrel must have a reasonable layout.

"The war we know is about to change again, at least two thousand meters is no longer an absolutely safe distance," the lieutenant has a faint sense of loss no matter how he looks at it: "In the future, siege warfare will become very simple, and defending the city will become a very dangerous thing, it will no longer be a war that can be safe by hiding behind the female wall, and the city wall will no longer be a fortification that can be relied on." ”

As soon as Lu Zhe heard this, he couldn't help but look at the lieutenant, he understood this because he had the experience of countless pioneers who had exchanged their lives for him, and the lieutenant immediately had such a feeling just after watching a burst of artillery fire, and his thinking was sharp.

"Your Majesty, that kind of thing ......" Xu Zhi raised his hand and pointed to the nine-pounder cannon that was being cooled down in the distance: "Will you only equip mixed legions in the future?" ”

Several lieutenant generals who commanded the cavalry corps also looked at Lu Zhe with blank eyes, afraid of hearing the news of answering "yes".

"It won't just equip mixed legions," Lu Zhe said this, and several cavalry lieutenant generals had relieved expressions on their faces, but Lu Zhe didn't finish his words: "But before researching a cavalry cannon that can cooperate with cavalry, I think so." ”

Wei Han was stunned and dazed for a while: "What's the difference?" ”

"There is not much difference, it is a horse-drawn gun, which needs to be studied for the gun mount, and in addition, the caliber and weight of the gun must be reduced." Lu Zhe found that several cavalry lieutenant generals basically didn't understand, and smiled: "In short, you pray that the research of the gun carriage can go smoothly." ”

That's right, it's the gun mount, the gun itself is very important, but many times the gun mount is related to the application of artillery, and the gun mount is not as simple as it seems on the surface. A reasonable gun carriage depends on the purpose, and what kind of gun mount should be used in the place where the gun should be used, but it is not a thing that can be placed on the gun body can be called a gun carriage.

"When will the artillery be armed?" Ji Bu asked what all the generals were most concerned about.

This time, Lu Zhe did not immediately answer that cold weapons such as swords still need to learn how to use them, cold weapons are like that, and artillery is a hot weapon that tests technology, and it is even more not simple, when to arm artillery, it depends on how long it can train reasonable artillery, and when artillery can be mass-produced, it depends on productivity and the number of artillery. (To be continued......)