Section 78 Hongyi Cannon

As he was talking, suddenly a personal soldier came to announce that the cannon sacrifice ceremony was ready. In order to deal with the thieves' firearms, Foshan sent ten newly cast Hongyi cannons. He Rubin asked someone to choose an auspicious day for the zodiac and personally sacrifice the cannon to test the cannon.

Today is the auspicious day of the zodiac, He Rubin came to the school with his staff, the main generals under him are all here, and Lu Yizhong is also here, looking around. I saw that the ten glittering blue cannons were mounted on the newly made old elm two-wheeled and two-legged gun carriages, which looked very thick and strong. An offering table was placed in front of the cannon, and there was a red paper tablet on it, on which was written "The Divine Position of the Great General Cannon". In front of the tablet are three animal offerings, sake, incense burners, candlesticks and other items.

He Rubin took the garrison rank firearm battalion owner to burn incense on Li Mo's knife and hands, and bowed to the gun god three times. He also recited a prayer prepared by his staff, then took the jug, filled the cup, and poured it on the ground. The ten gunners first knelt down and saluted the commander-in-chief, then walked to the guns, knelt down and kowtowed three more times, and then came to push the guns.

Now it's time to play the cannon -- the so-called "cannon fire." The newly cast cannon should be tested as usual, which is a common thing in the manufacture of weapons, but once the cannon is used, the traditional weapons such as siege machinery and trebuchets used in China are immediately dwarfed, and they are inevitably dyed with mystery, and all kinds of rituals are made.

He Rubin attaches great importance to the sacrificial cannon. On the one hand, he thought that this would help improve morale, and on the other hand, he wanted to know how powerful the Hongyi cannons made in the province were. He came into contact with the Hongyi cannon earlier, and when the Hongyi cannon was first introduced during the Apocalypse, he had seen test firing, learned Western artillery, and made a firearms book himself.

At that time, the imitation of Hongyi cannon jishu was quite mature, Li Luoyou's foundry made of cannons that were borrowed from Macao as a sample, and there was a German missionary Ma Yangchun in his home to guide at any time, Li Luoyou came back from Lingao, according to what he saw and heard in the Lingao artillery factory and the guidance of the Europeans around him, he made some earthen equipment, and also used a boring knife to boring the jishu of the gun breech. Therefore, the cast Hongyi cannon is obviously superior to other artillery fields.

"These cannons are well made." He exclaimed. He had already seen that these cannons were relatively light Hongyi cannons, "Who forged this?" ”

"Back to the words of the adult: this is the Li family foundry in Foshan." Li Mo said, "His foundry is different from others, and the casting cannons are particularly sophisticated. ”

He Rubin thought for a while and asked, "Is it that Li Luoyou?" ”

"Exactly. I heard that he was very embarrassed to cast a cannon, so he specially asked Fu Jun to write a book and ask the Francophone to borrow a cannon for him to imitate. ”

"No wonder his cannon is well-made, this Li Da shopkeeper is half a foreigner." He Rubin said with a smile, "I heard that he was a boy for the foreign monk Francois when he was young, and he was quite intimate with the foreign monk. It's different from the Franc machine."

Crowd hahadaxiao. Everyone knows that He Rubin is very disgusted with foreign religions, and of course he is very disgusted with people who are Christians themselves and have a deep relationship with the Christian churches in Macao.

"Please show me the town," Li Mo said with a knife and fork, "Do you want to play the cannon immediately?" After getting He Rubin's consent, Li Modao waved the command flag in his hand:

"If you have a life, test it now"

With an order, ten gunners immediately ran over and pushed one of the cannons out. Hongyi cannon is very heavy, even if it is a light gun that fires five pounds of shells, the gun body is also 1,500 pounds, at that time, the gun truck was made in order to bear the weight and be durable, the materials were particularly heavy, and many iron nails and hoops were added to the gun wheel, the whole gun was very heavy, and it was quite difficult for ten gunners to push.

The gunners pushed the guns into place, and one of them was the first to measure the angles with a gun. The Hongyi cannon is actually a cannon and is generally fired at a small angle of fire for maximum range.

The gunner shouted loudly: "The gun gauge is six points higher" and then one of the gunners hammered the triangular wedge between the barrel and the gun carriage with a hammer, causing the gun to gradually rise.

The gun gauge is six points high, roughly equivalent to a 45-degree angle of fire, which is the elevation angle used for the maximum range of the smoothbore cannon.

"The cannon is six points high, and the bullet can reach one thousand and fifty-three paces." He Rubin said to the staff and generals, "If it is seven points, it will be a short step." He wrote "Western Fire Attack Artifact" himself, and he memorized this set of things like a stream.

Li Modao said respectfully: "What my lord has seen is extremely true. ”

When the cannon body was raised to the ground, the gunner shouted again: "Two catties and six taels of medicine"

The other two gunners hurriedly brought a porcelain jar from the earthen pit, which was specially used to hold gunpowder, glazed inside and out, with a girdle for fastening, and a sleeve made of rattan and bamboo for easy handling. The gunner opened the sealing jar of cement, unsealed the porcelain dish, used a wooden measuring spoon to measure the gunpowder, poured it into the barrel, and a gunner poked the gunpowder into the bottom of the barrel with a long pestle, inserted a fuse made of paper and gunpowder into the fire door near the bottom of the barrel, continued to charge, poked tightly, and loaded a wooden yard, and then loaded the iron bullet.

Li Modao asked everyone to retreat ten zhang, and the rest of the many soldiers also retreated into the distance, ready for what happened. Li Modao only stepped back one zhang away, waved the small flag in his hand, and said:

Point

A gunner lit the lead with a torch, and the gunners immediately retreated to Li Modao's side, looking nervous, and staring at the hissing sparks that quickly ignited the short lead.

Although the cannon was very powerful, the cannon casting at that time lacked process management, and the casting materials were uneven, and the quality could not be guaranteed; Inexperienced gunners learned Western gunnery books that were translated without regard to weights and measures...... As a result, many artillery pieces exploded on the first firing. Often, many people are killed and injured.

The fuse hissed into the fire door, and suddenly, the fire door flashed red, and then the gun muzzle erupted with a loud bang. Everyone only felt a shock to the ground under their feet, and in an instant there was a thick smoke in front of the cannon. When the cannon sounded, the staff and soldiers instinctively threw their waists together, and the gunners also squatted down.

Li Modao bent over, and he quickly opened his mouth when he saw the red light. After the cannon sounded, he quickly ran close to the cannon, checked it and touched it with his hand, relieved himself, and hurried over to pray:

"The cannons are intact."

He Rubin and his staff and generals approached. Inspect the gun body and gun carriage, and it is as strong as ever. Very satisfied. After a while, a soldier galloped back from the mound two miles away: a cannonball flew over the mound and broke a tree behind the mound.

"The thief is known as a firearm with a sharp weapon, how is it better than this cannon?" He Rubin said with a smile.

"No matter how sharp the thief's cannon is, it's nothing more than that." Evergreen Cloud Road.

"Hehe, this is still a small cannon with five catties of bullets, if it is a cannon that emits fifteen catties of ammunition, one cannon can erode three or four miles. No matter how sharp the thief's firearms are, that's the case. He Rubin was confident, "Li Shoubei, how many cannons does the firearms battalion have now?" ”

"Lord Huiyu: With the addition of these ten Hongyi cannons, there are a total of one hundred and sixty-four new and old cannons."

"Tiger squat cannons and the like don't count. Remove these small cannons, how many? ”

"Lord Huiyu: There are thirty-eight."

"Good" He Rubin was quite satisfied, "Here are the real samples of the latest Western cannonballs sent by the Ministry of Industry, you can try them one by one." If it is useful, immediately order the artillery factory to rush to make it. ”

"Yes, sir."

This batch of new sample artillery shells was cast under the auspices of John Tang and distributed to Liaodong, Gyeonggi, Shandong, Fujian, Guangdong and other places equipped with Hongyi cannons for trial release.

These shells have different names, including the so-called roaring dragon bullets, refining bullets, drilling bullets, and chisel bullets. There are all kinds of them, and they look strange. Li Modao was loaded and tested one by one, but everyone couldn't see the specific effect of the newly sent weird shells, and the range was much shorter. Only the loud whistling sound made by the roaring dragon bomb when it was launched made everyone think that there was a certain deterrent effect.

As for the chain bullet that will be divided into two after it is played, there is a chain of chains; The two hemispheres were divided by fixed iron bars, and the four hemispheres were held together by chains on the broad bullets of the iron buttons, which seemed to be very powerful, but the range was much shorter, and the staff felt that it was better to fire balls and shotshots than to fire these shells.

"Li Shoubei, what do you think of these shells?" He Rubin asked.

"My lord, the roar of the dragon is like the roar of the dragon, and it is used to deter the enemy. But it is not the right way. As for the other ......" Li Modao felt that these strange-shaped shells were useless, "It is okay to use them in a humble position, but it takes work and materials, and the shot is not far." ”

"Foreign monks know how to tinker with some strange things to deceive people." He Rubin smiled, "We don't need this mess. ”

He Rubin then inspected the firearms battalion. This firearms battalion was specially set up to deal with the thieves, and a lot of artillery was mobilized and a lot of new gun trucks were built. He Rubin saw that the firearms battalion was neatly arranged, the armor was well-equipped, and the soldiers were either practicing or maintaining the equipment, and they were busy, and there were no slacking soldiers, and he felt very satisfied.

"Lee Shoubei"

"My lord" Li Modao hurriedly went up.

"You have a good way of leading the troops"

"All the Majesty of the Tiger"

"Hmm." He Rubin nodded, "I heard that you are good at using firearms, and thieves have a reputation for being sharp with firearms, what do you think?" ”

"Lord Huiyu," Li Modao said cautiously, "The firearms of the thieves have never been seen before, I have only heard that they have huge cannons, and one cannon can reach more than ten miles." From the point of view of humble office, such rumors are often exaggerated. ”

"How so?"

"I have been in the army for sixteen years. Starting with a three-eyed gun, he has handled countless large and small firearms. However, the range of firearms is exaggerated. As we can see from the artillery used in the past years, the range of the medium franc cannon is only 200 steps, and the tiger squat cannon is only 30 or 40 steps. And the clouds in the book can reach several miles, dozens of miles. That is, in the case of the Hongyi cannon, although there is a difference of 1,000 catties, 2,000 catties, and 5,000 catties, in fact, the farthest distance of the bullet is only three miles. The cannon may not shoot far. ”

He Rubin was quite appreciative of his words, thinking that only people with actual combat experience could say them, and he looked at the thirty-year-old officer. This person has a Chinese face, a tall and strong body, and a powerful force. At first glance, he is a general who is good at fighting.

"Have you ever been in battle?"

"Hui Yu, my lord, I once accompanied the Xibing camp to prepare for Lord Zhou to conquer Salhu. After the defeat of the East Route Army, he led his brothers to defend the high post and defend the enemy with firearms. Li Modao is very complacent about this period of history.

"Liaodong is stubbornly defended, and the power of firearms is very great." He Rubin asked, "Now that the thief's firearms are not under me, the enemy and me are in danger, how should the firearms be arranged?" ”

Li Modao's face turned red with excitement, and the chief soldier asked him about his plan, and it was a big face-saving thing to say. He had thought about this many times, and at this time he settled on the gods:

"In my humble opinion, although there are tens of thousands of thieves, they are either Fujian and Guangdong traitors or coerced people, and they are a rabble. They will not dare to fight in the field with our army. The thief's plan is nothing more than the trick of the red hair in Penghu, to build a strong village, install heavy artillery, and defend a corner of the place. After our soldiers are often surrounded. There is little difference between the range of the enemy and our artillery, and our troops can dig trenches and go to a place half a mile or a mile in front of the enemy's wall. The trench was wide and deep, and it was enough to carry a gun carriage. Our artillery advanced from the bottom of the trench, approaching the wall of the wall, and fired cannons, our artillery could reach the enemy, and the enemy artillery could not hurt us. ”

"What if the thief goes out of the city to grab the cannon?"

"For each artillery position, two teams of infantry are arranged, equipped with tiger squat cannons and three-eyed guns. Always ready to fight. Our soldiers have deep trenches to hide, and the enemy's artillery cannot reach them, and if there are insufficient troops, we can send new replacements at any time. ”

He glanced at He Rubin, and hurriedly said: "It's a little foolish to get an axe from the lowly class. ”

He Rubin had never heard of such a tactic: digging a trench on the ground, and letting the artillery soldiers walk at the bottom of the ditch. I wanted to dismiss it as "ridiculous", but this method may not be useless when I think about it, if the thief refuses to retreat, you can also give it a try.

But he doesn't say good or bad. Expressionless, he left in the stars holding the moon.

Li Modao cautiously sent the general soldier away. I felt a little uneasy in my heart: I didn't know if my remarks made the chief soldier happy or unhappy, and whether he had an appetite for him. He Zongbing himself was a garrison rank in his sixteen-year army, and recently became a battalion general again, and he is very concerned about his future.

"Is the old soldier still satisfied with the firearms battalion?" As soon as He Rubin left, a few cronies around him brought the general manager over.

"How does Lao Tzu know?" Li Modao said impatiently, "You have brought the brothers one by one, it seems that our firearms battalion is going to do a big job this time." ”

After his subordinates dispersed, Li Modao glanced at the various strange-shaped shells waiting for the soldiers to recover. He walked over and squatted on the ground, carefully looking at the cannonballs cast by the foreign monk. Although the performance of the new shells was not good when they were fired, Li Modao vaguely felt that these shells had their own uses, but he didn't know it.

"If there is someone around you who knows Western artillery, you can ask for it." Li Modao thought to himself.

When it comes to Western artillery, He Zhen is of course the first person in the Liangguang Army, but he is just a small garrison, how dare he casually ask the Zhentai people.

"When the breech is cleaned, we are ready to set up our horses and return to the camp." He instructed the soldiers to scrub the breeches and pack up their belongings.

The soldiers brought in the newly purchased Sichuan horses and put on the cannons. The body of the Sichuan horse is small and weak. Not to mention the bulkiness of this type of gun carriage, and without the artillery front carriage, the horses had to be pulled forward, but also had to bear the weight on their backs. The efficiency of the use of animal power was very poor, and it took seven or eight horses to barely pull it. Li Modao knew that local Mongolian horses were very rare, and Jiangnan and Guangdong did not raise mules, so they had to use Sichuan horses to make up the numbers.

"The strength of this horse is too small, it is not as good as a mule." A boss around him always said.

"This is a small Sichuan horse in the south, smaller than a donkey in Shandong." Li Modao said, "When you pull up the cart, you can't reach a donkey." It is okay to take the mountain road to carry the goods, but it is not possible to pull the cart and pull the cannon. ”

"There are a lot of cattle here, so it's better to use cows."

"The cows are too slow." He shook his head, "And easily frightened." When a cannon is fired on the battlefield, the cow is startled, and it will be a bad thing immediately. ”

However, the ox has long strength, and its strength is greater than that of the Sichuan horse, which can barely drag the cannon. However, there are more than 30 cannons of more than 1,000 catties in the battalion, and each person needs more than 100 cattle with four cattle, and there are corresponding people. I don't know if He Zhen is willing to spend this extra expense.

After returning to the camp and settling down the cannon, Li Modao went to the gunpowder factory at the foot of Yashouniang Mountain, about five or six miles away from the barracks battery, there was a large shack, which was a workshop for making gunpowder. Day and night, the materials for making gunpowder were brought in by ship from all over the country: sulphur, charcoal, and saltpeter, and occasionally other things, such as sun-dried human dung, poisonous Chinese herbs such as aconitum aconitum, and lime and tung oil.

As the commander of the firearms battalion, Li Mo was most concerned about the supply of gunpowder. Although there was no shortage of gunpowder among the officers and soldiers, the quality of gunpowder varied widely. The gunpowder could only emit a puff of black smoke, and there were also cases where the cannon fell off when it was ejected, and sometimes the medicine was too strong, and the chamber was directly exploded, often causing heavy casualties to the gunner.

On this expedition, He Rubin commissioned him to concurrently manufacture gunpowder projectiles. He commanded the firearms battalion, and gunpowder projectiles were a matter of life and death, and they could not be ignored.

There were many large iron pots in the shed, and something was boiling, emitting a foul smell. Li Modao knew that this was purifying nitrate and sulfur.

Not far away, three large stone grinding plates were led by Sichuan horses to crush charcoal; There were many people who were "knocking, knocking" mashing the ashes, and many others were sifting through the ashes, sifting out the fine black powder. Some people added sulfur, nitrate, and other things to charcoal powder according to the prescribed proportions to make gunpowder.

The powdered gunpowder is loaded into the stone trough, and the craftsmen use thick wooden pestles to lick the gunpowder powder in the stone trough, and there are old craftsmen sitting aside, always rubbing the powder with their hands and adding some water. The finer the gunpowder powder should be scooped, the better, Li Modao remembered that the book stipulated that more than 5,000 strokes should be scooped, and he didn't know how the craftsmen counted it.

Other craftsmen spray the powdered powder spread out with slightly viscous water soaked in wheat, and then shake out various particles of gunpowder of different thicknesses with a bamboo sieve.