Chapter 351: Artillery is born
Guo Ziyi looked at the new helmets in his hand seriously, listened to Li An's introduction, and immediately became full of interest in these new helmets, and very much hoped that the soldiers under his command could be equipped with these new helmets to increase the combat power of the soldiers. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
"Li Shilang, how many new helmets are there?"
Guo Ziyi asked.
"It's all here, ten in all, and there won't be any more."
Ang Lee replied with a smile.
"It's only ten, this is too little, why don't you do more Li Shilang, with such a good helmet, the combat power of my Tang army will inevitably become stronger."
Guo Ziyi unconsciously dreamed of it.
"General Guo, these are all developed and manufactured by me at my personal expense, the more you build, the greater the loss, and the imperial court now needs a lot of research and development and equipment, and it can't spare enough resources to manufacture these equipment that are not urgently needed."
Li An said indifferently.
"Equipment is extremely important for the army, how can it be said that it is not urgently needed? Equipping a good helmet with one more weapon can increase combat power and reduce casualties. ”
Kwok disagrees with Ang Lee's statement.
Li An shook his head, and said with a straight face: "General Guo's words are wrong, the Turks are in a mess, the Shuo Fang army has nothing to do, what is the urgent need, and does General Guo know where the imperial court has invested its resources?" Cultivators, harvesters, trains, steam ships, none of that is more important than helmets, I make these helmets, just for you to test the effect, and when the resources are surplus in the future, then large-scale manufacturing, now the resources are insufficient, you can only pick up the most important manufacturing. ”
"Li Shilang, the Shuofang army is not really idle, although the Turks are in chaos now, and they don't have the energy to go south, but my Tang soldiers and horses must be ready for the Northern Expedition to the Turks at any time, and a war may happen at any time."
Guo Ziyi explained.
"Northern Expedition to the Turks? If the Turks don't go south, you will also run and take the initiative to fight the Turks, so is that okay? ”
Li An asked curiously.
"That's natural, since the Turks can go south, my Tang soldiers and horses can naturally go north, Your Majesty has agreed, as long as there is another big turmoil in the Turks, our Shuofang army will immediately go north."
Guo Ziyi whispered.
"Oh, it turns out that Your Majesty also has plans for the Northern Expedition, but no matter how many helmets are made, it won't increase much combat power, and I am developing equipment that can greatly enhance combat power, and I will soon start experimenting."
Ang Lee also whispered.
"What kind of good thing is the equipment that greatly enhances combat power, can I take a look?"
Guo Ziyi looked forward to it.
"It's nothing else, it's the artillery I talked about last time, this thing is extremely powerful, and the range is far more than the existing bows and catapults, with artillery, my Datang will no longer be afraid of any solid level."
Ang Lee opened his mouth to introduce, and took Guo Ziyi back to the R&D center.
"Li Shilang, this is a big iron rod with two wheels in the middle, how to kill the enemy?"
Guo Ziyi frowned at the first glance of the artillery, he really couldn't see how this big iron rod was used.
"Haha! General Guo, this is the artillery I developed, how powerful is it? Originally, it was intended to be made of pure copper, but considering that pure copper was too soft, it was changed to steel, which made the cannon more powerful and cheaper, but wasted more research and development time. ”
Li An smiled and looked at the R&D personnel beside him: "How about it, there will be no problem this time!" ”
"Back to Li Shilang, it was personally supervised by the villain, and there should be no more problems."
Li An nodded, and said with a straight face: "Lead the horse over and pull the artillery out for testing." ”
Although the weight of the cannon is very large, because of the iron wheels, a horse can be completely pulled, and even manpower can be completely pushed, but the speed is a little slower.
At a test site in the R&D center, an earthen wall with a height of about five feet was erected, which was specially used to test the power of artillery.
The location of the artillery test was 500 paces away from the earthen wall, which was a very long distance.
"Li Shilang, you don't plan to use this big iron rod to collapse the earthen wall five hundred steps away!"
Guo Ziyi seemed to see Ang Lee's purpose and felt very surprised.
In Lao Guo's opinion, the earthen wall five hundred steps away is too far for any weapon to reach such a high projection distance, and even if it can be projected to such a distance, it may not be able to hit, and even if it can hit, the power is not enough to knock down the earthen wall.
"Aim for the earthen wall and load the shells."
Ang Lee personally gave the order and stood ten paces away from the artillery to ensure safety.
After the cannon was aimed at the earthen wall and secured, a round solid iron ball was inserted into the cannon through the muzzle, and black powder and fuse were inserted into the tail of the gun.
"Ignition, fire."
Ang Lee immediately ordered.
"Boom ......"
After a loud bang, a solid iron ball shot out and accurately hit the earthen wall five hundred paces away.
"Whoa......
The earthen wall that had been hit made a dull cracking sound and quickly collapsed, kicking up a puff of smoke.
"At a distance of 500 paces, it can hit the earthen wall, and it can also shatter the earthen wall, the power of this artillery, I can't say it, it's too powerful."
After Guo Ziyi saw it, he was very excited, his eyes were straight, he looked down on the artillery at first, and felt that it was just a hollow iron rod, after the test, he was completely convinced, and believed that what Li An said was true, the power of the artillery is indeed very powerful, and the practicality far exceeds the defensive nature of the new helmet.
"General Guo, this is not very powerful, this cannon fires a solid iron ball, and I am working on an explosive shell with black powder inside, so that the projectile that is thrown out can explode in the enemy group, and the damage caused is even greater."
Li An Zhengse said.
"This cannon has just been developed, I don't know when it will be mass-produced?"
Guo Ziyi asked urgently.
"As long as there is enough steel and sufficient financial resources, it can be minted in batches at any time, and after I report to His Majesty, His Majesty will decide."
Ang Lee said softly.
"Such a powerful artillery, we must build more of it, this is a sharp weapon to kill the enemy!"
Lao Guo seemed much more urgent than Ang Lee.
"Don't worry! General Guo, Your Majesty will also see the power of this weapon, and will definitely support mass production, however, the artillery is too powerful, it is a technical branch, and it requires specially trained artillery to operate, so it should not equip the army so quickly. ”
Li Ang told Guo Ziyi not to worry, the successful development of equipment does not mean that the army can be equipped quickly, and it takes a certain amount of time to run in and experiment.
"Haha! Lao Guo found that Li Shilang was really talented, and he could even invent such a thing as artillery, which was also too godly, too godly. ”
Guo Ziyi sincerely praised Ang Lee, this admiration is indescribable, although in the era of everything is inferior only to high reading, this is still difficult to stop Guo Ziyi's worship of Ang Lee.
After all, the things invented by Ang Lee are all heavyweight equipment with cross-era significance, and they are things that no one else can think of except Ang Lee.
"General Guo is polite, these are all trivial meanings, in the future, I will invent more powerful equipment, so that Datang can easily destroy a big country in a few months, just like a big country like Tubo, it can be destroyed in a few months."
Li Ang said proudly.
"Exterminate Tibet in a few months, Li Shilang can know how powerful Tubo is, this is unlikely!"
Guo Ziyi was surprised, he really couldn't think of what kind of artifact Li An could invent, and he could easily destroy the Tubo Empire in a few months.
"Forget it, no matter how powerful a weapon is, it only makes sense if it is made, and now there is no one in the eight characters? Needless to say, after it is built, I will tell General Guo. ”
Li An felt that it was better not to disclose it, besides, even if he said it, Guo Ziyi might not be able to understand it, bombers and ironclad chariots, how could people in Guo Ziyi's era figure it out.
Seeing that Li An suddenly didn't want to say anything, Guo Ziyi didn't ask, he was more concerned about how the current equipment was transported back to Shuofang, when he came, he only brought a few dozen cavalry, and after getting two thousand solar stoves, he was ready to rent a carriage and transport these solar stoves back, but when he came over, he saw a lot of steam trains transporting rails along the way, and felt that that guy was faster than a carriage, and his carrying capacity was also stronger, so he had already made up his mind.
"Li Shilang, on the way here, I saw a lot of big cars transporting railroad tracks, running much faster than horse-drawn carriages, what kind of guy is that."
Guo Ziyi asked.
"It's a steam wagon! General Guo can not fight the idea of these steam wagons, laying rails is lacking capacity, and there is still a big gap in the steam wagons currently owned, and there is absolutely no surplus for General Guo. ”
Li An hurriedly spoke, blocking Guo Ziyi's needs.
After getting along for a certain number of times, Ang Lee has long understood Guo Ziyi's virtue, and now, as long as Guo Ziyi pouts his buttocks, Ang Lee knows what poop he wants to pull.
"My old Guo doesn't want this thing, I'll return it when I'm done with it, can't I? I was in a hurry to return to Beijing this time, and I didn't bring a baggage team, so many things were not easy to transport back. ”
Guo Ziyi is still not giving up.
"No, it's still not good, General Guo will die of this heart! If you don't bring a baggage team, you can hire a carriage from the capital! Lingzhou is not far away, and within a month, it will definitely be able to return. ”
Li An will definitely not transfer the powerful steam wagon to Guo Ziyi, after all, laying the railway is the important work at present, and Guo Ziyi's return to Shuofang one day and one day earlier is not very important, and it will not affect anything.
"Hahaha! Okay, the carriage is the carriage, it's rare to go back to Beijing once, won't Li Shilang invite me to have a good drink? ”
Guo Ziyi is also magnificent, try her best to fight for it when she can, and she won't get angry if she can't win it, and she doesn't mean to complain about Li An at all.
"Let's go, my annex has a large amount of spirits stored, and when General Guo comes over, he will be guaranteed to have a good drink, as well as fresh cucumbers, delicious roast goose, and limited edition beef."
Of course, Li An will not be stingy, took Guo Ziyi to his own courtyard, and entertained him well.
The successful development of artillery was a very important event for the Tang Empire, and the sensation it caused in the court was no less than when black powder was invented.
Moreover, not long after the test firing of the solid shell, the flowering shell was also successfully developed and passed the artillery firing test.
Li Longji attached great importance to artillery, and not only personally led the ministers to inspect the R&D center and watch the artillery firing test, but also learned about all aspects of the artillery through careful inquiry.
"Your Majesty, the artillery is huge, and it is much more convenient to move than a catapult, if it can equip the army on a large scale, it will greatly enhance the combat power of our Tang army, and it should be built in batches as soon as possible."
Li Shizhi was the first to suggest.
"Your Majesty, Weichen seconded the proposal, the artillery is huge, and it is suitable for batch construction."
"Your Majesty, Weichen seconded the proposal."
After seeing the tremendous power of the artillery, the ministers were all shocked by this powerful weapon, and asked the emperor to order the construction of a large number of weapons, so as to use this advanced weapon to deter the barbarians around them.
Of course, Li Longji was also very moved, and after seeing the powerful power of the artillery with his own eyes, he was speechless for a long time in shock.
On the battlefield in ancient times, the soldiers were closely lined up together, thus forming an airtight formation, such a dense team, when defending against the opponent's army, has a great advantage, but this also makes the powerful catapult have a place to use, and the power of the artillery is far better than the catapult, the range is more than the catapult, in this case, the solid iron ball fired by the artillery will inevitably cause huge damage to the enemy's dense formation.
After the flowering bullet falls into the enemy group, it will explode violently, and the killing range generated is more powerful than that of the solid bullet, so it will definitely cause more damage to the enemy.
The most pleasing thing about such a powerful cannon is its small size, equipped with two iron wheels on the underside, which can be pulled by a horse and move quickly in the field, thus increasing tactical flexibility.
"Li Shilang, I want to hear your opinion."
Li Longji looked at Li An and asked.
"Your Majesty, the technology of artillery is very mature, and it can be mass-produced, however, it is not easy to cast artillery, the price is relatively high, and the requirements for operation are not low.
Ang Lee replied seriously.
"Artillery troops? Well, the name is quite domineering, okay, I agreed, just among the Longwu Army and the Yulin Army, select part of the troops to form an artillery unit, and this matter will be handed over to Li Shilang. ”
Li Longji readily agreed to Li An's request, after all, Li An is an expert in this area, of course, he has to be responsible for everything.
"Thank you for Your Majesty's trust, Weichen will definitely set up the artillery unit well, and will never disappoint Your Majesty's trust and expectations."
Ang Lee showed his loyalty and accepted the task smoothly.
Due to the limitations of resources and manpower and material resources, the first batch of cast artillery pieces was only fifty, and according to the establishment of five people for one cannon, two hundred and fifty people were needed, that is, the strength of five teams.