Liu Pei observed and found that these wooden figures were arranged in the way of the military formation, so he nodded with satisfaction and said, "You can start!" ”

Liu Pei and his party were invited to the back of the low wall to wait for the launch. After they raised their binoculars one after another, three groups of gunners appeared in a running run, quickly operating the three mortars. A moment later, the three mortars made a "boom" almost simultaneously, and the shells flew out of the chambers!

Liu Pei chased the flowering bullet with his eyes and flew into the distance. The flowering bomb seemed to fly very slowly in the air, but it actually landed quickly in the crowd of wood. With three consecutive explosions, the wooden crowd was blown to pieces!

As soon as the explosion stopped, a large group of cadets from the artillery academy rushed over in high spirits. They are responsible for counting the specific damage effects. After careful inspection, the trainees came back to report. The student in charge of the report blushed with excitement and said loudly: "Commander, my lords, on average, each wooden figure within five meters of the explosion heart has at least one to two iron pills embedded in each wooden figure!" ”

Everyone immediately cheered! Everyone understands that this data shows that all soldiers in a circle with a diameter of ten meters will be blown up! Explain that this new toy has lethal striking power against dense formations using cold weapons! You can create a blank space directly on the enemy's formation!

When the cheers subsided, the student continued: "On average, every three wooden figures within a radius of five meters will be bombed! But considering that we are using wooden figures, the level of damage in actual combat is higher than it is now! ”

Everyone was satisfied with the result! Liu Pei also nodded with satisfaction! He asked Liu Ning: "In the early test, what is the mute rate of the new shells?" ”

Liu Ning said: "The dumb fire rate is about 30%. When it's good, it can reach one and a half! ”

Liu Pei thinks it's okay. After all, this is a new shell, and the high rate of dud fire in the early stage is understandable. In the future, with a standardized process, the mute rate will definitely be reduced. Liu Pei nodded and said, "It's not a bad result!" However, there is no difficulty in making this kind of flowering bullet, if there is a dumb shell body that falls into the hands of others, is it possible for them to imitate it? ”

Bao Dezhi said: "It is possible that the big handsome is worried! But I don't think it's okay! Because even imitation takes a certain amount of time. Moreover, our Academy of Sciences is also optimizing gunpowder, striving to reduce the rate of dumb fire as much as possible and reduce the possibility of leakage. As for the rest, it can only be up to providence! ”

Liu Pei also knows that it is difficult to keep this kind of secret thoroughly. After all, Da Ming actually already has something similar, but it's just not taken seriously! In addition, the level of combat capability is not completely affected by hand weapons. Judging from the current quality of the Ming soldiers, that is, both sides have the same weapons, and Liu Pei is sure to completely defeat them! So Liu Pei didn't care. As long as he can continue to win crushing victories on the battlefield, the secret will be kept a little longer.

Bao Dezhi continued: "Marshal, this mortar is for the army, and we are still trying to produce another direct-fire large-caliber gun, which is a naval type, which specializes in firing this kind of flowering shell. Five days later, the sample cannon will be test-fired, and the marshal can observe it then, I think there may be a surprise! ”

Liu Pei said strangely: "The artillery of the direct shot of the flowering shell? What does that caliber look like? Does it work? ”

Bao Dezhi said seriously: "Produced by the Academy of Sciences, it must be a high-quality product!" ”

Liu Peihaha laughed and said, "How heavy is such a large-caliber artillery?" Can our ship fit in? ”

Bao Dezhi said: "Chinese seagoing ships are definitely not good, but it is no problem to install two doors on each of the new warships. ”

Liu Pei saw that Bao Dezhi was really not joking, so he seriously inquired about the basic numbers and origin of this artillery. It turns out that the artillery that Bao Dezhi said is a variant of the large-caliber mortar gun! However, the mortar cannon has no barrel and is fired into the sky. The kind of gun used by the navy is a large-caliber gun with a small barrel lengthened and specially fired flat.

After the change, this gun was actually renamed a large-caliber short gun. Later it was called a bombardment. This cannon later became the most distinctive weapon on the battleships of the Royal Navy. These short guys, who look like they're five big and three thick, are able to project projectiles of incredible weight at close range, making them a real weapon in melee combat.

In fact, the large-caliber short gun was first invented by General Robert Melwall of the British Royal Navy in late 1770, and was manufactured by the Cullen Steel Company in Scotland in the same year.

However, the initial rollout did not go well. It was not until 1779 that such weapons were first adopted by the Royal Navy. However, this humble cannon had a strong supporter in the navy--- Sir Charles Middleton, an important reformer in the history of the British Navy who became Lord of the Navy in 1779.

The design of this artillery was arguably influenced by a report from 1747 that stated that most naval engagements were close to each other, and that a short-barreled, large-caliber gun would play a significant role in such battles. Moreover, by improving the shells, the waste of gunpowder can be better avoided. The short cannon also has an advantage over the cannon in terms of weight, because a 32-pounder cannon is basically the same weight as a 32-pounder cannon!

Most of these large-caliber guns were mounted at the aft of the upper deck, at the bow and aft. In most cases, these guns are directly under the command of the ship. It was not until 1794 that most warships were mandated to be equipped with this weapon. But since the modification work was carried out only when the battleship was repaired, not all ships were immediately equipped with these guns.

Five days later, Liu Pei, who was full of interest, came to the test site again. As soon as he arrived at the test site, Liu Pei saw three extremely ugly artillery. Liu Pei is used to seeing the slender barrels of other artillery, coupled with the sleek cannon hoop, it looks so perfect!

And this artillery is completely aesthetically unacceptable! This artillery is very heavy at first glance. The gun carriage is relatively wide and thick, and with an unusually thick but short barrel, it is like a large wooden stake on top of the vegetable pier! So Liu Pei didn't like it a little when he saw it.

Bao Dezhi also saw Liu Pei's expression on the side, and said: "It seems that the handsome man doesn't like this cannon, right?" ”

Liu Pei shook his head and said, "It looks so ugly!" I really don't like it! But if it's powerful, I'll love it! ”

Bao Dezhi laughed and said, "Then let's try it." ”

After speaking, he led Liu Pei to hide behind the low wall, and then signaled that the gunner could shoot. Liu Pei raised the telescope and looked at the target in the distance. The target was a replica wooden boat nailed out of wooden planks, and it looked very crude. However, looking at the thick section of the board, it should be very strong.

With a loud bang far beyond the other artillery, the short-barreled cannon fired! This kind of artillery really has a huge charge! Not only was the sound of the cannon very loud, but even the smoke from the muzzle of the cannon was unusually thick.

Liu Pei stared at the target, only to see that the huge cannonball drew a short arc and smashed on the side of the ship! The ship's side was smashed open, and the shells rolled to the deck. Then I heard a loud bang! A small mushroom cloud rises on the deck!

Although Liu Pei couldn't see clearly what damage this shell caused to the target, Liu Pei knew the lethality of this flowering projectile. But he could fully imagine what kind of tragedy it was like on the deck under the explosion of the flowering bomb!

Then the second cannon was fired! But this cannon missed! The shell crossed the target and landed in the distance, making a bang. The third cannon was very aggressive, and one shot hit the ship's tower! The shells smashed directly into the shipyard and exploded inside the shipbuilding!

Liu Pei could see that the shipbuilding was instantly inflated like a balloon being blown up, and then it was torn apart in the explosion! When the smoke cleared, the entire ship building disappeared completely!

Liu Pei couldn't help but applaud loudly when he saw the scene in front of him! Immediately said loudly: "Go, go!" Let's see how the target goes! ”

After a while, the cadets of the Artillery Academy ran happily and said, "Back to the commander, the ship is finished!" Even if there are living people, there will be no combat effectiveness! ”

Bao Dezhi waved his hand to signal the excited artillery cadets to calm down, and said, "Don't be too superstitious about this kind of artillery. Because the targets we use are crude, they are not at all as robust as a real sea-going ship. And the marshal also saw that the three guns were missed once on land, and when the artillery was fired at sea, there were even more misses! ”