Lin Ziran naturally knew the performance of these new nine-catty artillery, and it was precisely because of the superior performance of these new artillerymen that he decided to order this batch of artillery.

Otherwise, no one can decide on the purchase of tens of thousands of orders except for him.

This scar also stepped forward: "Although this cannon is good, it is also too expensive, more than twice as expensive as the ordinary nine-pound field artillery, not only artillery, those new grenades are also too expensive, one will cost thirty-five yuan, this is just a round out, it will be more than 100!" ”

Lin Ziran said: "Good things, it's acceptable to be more expensive, the effective range of those old nine-pound guns is only a few hundred meters at most, but now these new guns can reach more than a thousand meters!" ”

The reason why these nine-pound new artillery guns purchased by Lin Ziran is expensive, it is naturally expensive.

It is the latest research and development of the Nanzhou Machinery Bureau, produced by the latest processing technology, and it seems that there is not much difference from the previous smoothbore guns on the surface, they are all a gun carriage and a barrel, and even this thing is heavier than the original old gun.

However, the quality of the barrel used is higher than that of the original old gun, and the machining accuracy is also higher.

This also means that the barrel can withstand greater chamber pressure, which can also make the gun shoot farther, and the processing accuracy of the barrel is higher, and the accuracy has been greatly improved.

When firing a solid shell, even at a distance of about 1,500 meters, it can still effectively hit a target with a radius of about 10 meters.

If the grenade is fired, because the chamber pressure of the grenade is relatively low, it must take a reduced charge, so the effective range is shorter, but if it is paired with the new grenade specially developed by the Nanzhou Machinery Bureau for this new type of artillery, it can still achieve a range of about one thousand meters.

At this time, Luo Mazi also said: "These are all good, as long as you don't fight, you can't actually consume many shells, the key is that these artillery costs a lot on weekdays, not to mention the infantry, even the cavalry is not as expensive as them!" ”

The honest man Wu Dajiang also said: "The cannon is a good cannon, but it is more expensive to use!" ”

The nine-pound new field gun purchased by Lin Ziran is absolutely fierce enough, but in order to obtain such ferocious firepower, it is not without a price, in addition to the cost problem, it also pays the problem of too heavy weight.

In fact, although the whole artillery is also generally called a nine-jin artillery, the traditional nine-pound artillery of Daheng is actually only about 115 mm.

However, the caliber of this new type of artillery is 120 millimeters, and the barrel length is 14.5 times the caliber, which has led to an increase in weight, and because of the use of bronze alloy casting with a new formula, the weight of the gun is relatively heavy, and the gun body alone reaches more than 500 kilograms, if you add the gun carriage and wheels, then it can reach more than 1,200 kilograms, and in the marching state, with trailers, ammunition boxes and other messy things, the total weight can reach nearly 1,800 kilograms.

Otherwise, there would be no need for so many horses.

In these years, any field artillery had to be served by at least 20 front-line artillery and support personnel, and at least 10 horses were needed.

However, the need for so many horses is only nine pounds of new artillery, and even those smaller, lighter five-pound field guns also need a large number of horses.

At present, among the three artillery companies of the supplementary brigade of the Third Division, each artillery company has six artillery pieces, and the six five-pound field guns owned by the first artillery company are traditional old-style smoothbore guns, and their performance cannot be said to be bad, but they are not much better, and they are decent artillery.

The Second Artillery Company was equipped with six new-type field guns of five pounds.

The Third Artillery Company, which has just been established, is equipped with six nine-pound field guns.

Although the artillery used by the above three artillery companies is different, it is essentially a bronze smoothbore field gun, but the performance is different, because the artillery is similar to the artillery of other feudal towns, and it is actually similar in tactical use, so the artillery establishment of the supplementary brigade is actually similar to that of other feudal towns.

If each artillery company only counts the combatants, that is, the first-line artillery, then the strength is actually more than 50 people, but in an artillery company, not only the first-line artillery must be counted, but also a large number of support personnel, otherwise these artillery pieces will not be able to maneuver and fight at all.

The first-line artillery plus the support personnel, an artillery company can reach 170 troops, commanded by the officer of the sergeant sergeant, under the command of three artillery platoons and one ammunition platoon, each platoon leader is a sergeant officer.

At the same time, each artillery company will also have at least 100 horses, which will be used to haul artillery, ammunition trucks, officers' rides, etc., and more than nine pounds of artillery.

The Third Artillery Company has more than 170 people and 125 horses, some of which are used to haul artillery and are good horses with a shoulder height of 155.

Such a large number of horses and troops means that even if the artillery company does not fight, the maintenance cost in ordinary times is very high, which is higher than that of the cavalry unit.

Lin Ziran's supplementary brigade currently has two cavalry companies, the first cavalry company is a light cavalry that is not in the same formation, only one hundred and fifty horses, equipped with all the top Nanzhou war horses, and the second cavalry company is a dragoon, this is a full number of two hundred horses, but the horses are poor, only a small part of them are Nanzhou horses, and most of them are raised with Shayang horses.

In other words, the two cavalry companies together had only 350 cavalry, with more than 350 horses.

But even so, the cavalry cost of the 3rd Division's supplementary brigade is now not as high as that of the artillery unit.

Cavalry training or something, just ride a horse, and artillery unit training, that is to shoot artillery, a round of live ammunition is dozens of yuan, even training ammunition is not cheap.

After all, the new metal disc time fuze of the Nanzhou Machinery Bureau, high-precision machining, plus Mutuo, and at the same time, in order to strengthen the ability to withstand chamber pressure, the material of the projectile body is also better, the cost is not low, and the most important thing is that it is now the war years, and the price of various ordnance and ammunition is actually inflated.

This also makes weapons and ammunition extremely expensive.

In fact, Lin Ziran can also use these new grenades, directly use traditional wrought iron or even hand-made grenades, this kind of shells can also be shot, but the ability to withstand the chamber pressure is much worse, and if it cannot withstand the chamber pressure, it will not be able to reach too far an effective range, and the old-fashioned grenade will only hit seven or eight hundred meters at most.

In addition to shells, propellants are not cheap.

In short, the artillery thing is just one word: expensive!

More expensive than cavalry!

But even if it is expensive, it must be had, and today's war is a war of infantry, cavalry, and artillery.

If there is no cavalry, at most the field ability is poor, but without artillery, it will not be able to attack and defend, and it will die a miserable death.

When everyone was discussing in a low voice, Xu Zhongshu said, "My lord, it's ready!" ”

Lin Ziran nodded: "Since you're ready, let's start!" ”

With Lin Ziran's order, the artillerymen of the Third Artillery Company also opened fire one after another, and as the rumbling cannon sounded, the test-fired shells continued to fall at the predetermined impact point.

Looking at a group of test firings, Lin Ziran turned his head to Wu Guanlin and said, "Brother Wu, it seems that your infantry artillery coordination training is going to be changed again!" ”

Wu Guanlin also put down the telescope at this time, revealing a look that didn't know whether to be happy or helpless: "Yes, the range of this new type of artillery is too far, our previous training was based on the previous artillery range, only a few hundred meters, and now I am afraid that this distance will be expanded to more than one thousand meters." ”