In this era, the two fleets fought on the water, and although the maximum range of the guns on the battleships could exceed 2,000 meters, due to various restrictions such as the surface environment and ranging, the guns would not be fired until at least 500 meters, and the probability of hitting the enemy ships from a long distance was too low and too low, and it was a waste of shells.

The two sides approached while firing their guns, and it was even possible to shell each other only a few dozen meters apart, or it was possible to directly ram the ship with a ramming angle in an attempt to break the enemy ship.

None of this can determine the outcome of the battle, and the only way to do it is to engage in a broadside battle.

In the case of a small difference between the performance of the battleship and the performance of the artillery, the side with more ships and more people is more likely to win the battle.

The Ming Dynasty has fought many times with the fleets of Western countries from afar, and they have all been victorious, but each naval battle may have more losses of the Ming Navy Division than the enemy's losses, it can be said that the Western fleet is stronger under the same number of warships, but the victory or defeat in the Caspian Sea in this era is largely determined by the number of warships.

At present, the strength of the Daming Navy Division is at least ten times the strength of the People's Navy, even if Fang Nan increases investment in the People's Navy in the next few years, it is impossible to beat the Daming Navy Division, so Fang Nan wants to send agents to counter some of the Daming Navy Division.

In the office, Fang Nan was thinking about the naval battle between the two sides, thinking about it, Fang Nan suddenly thought of a weapon that could increase the victory of the People's Navy in the naval battle - rockets.

The main weapon of naval warfare is artillery, which is mainly divided into three types of shells, namely solid shells, chain shells, and grapeshot shells.

At present, the artillery of the People's Army mainly fires solid artillery shells, and rarely fires shotguns.

In naval battles, artillery fires solid shells generally at medium and long distances, but solid shells do not cause much damage to enemy ships, and they cannot bring much casualties to the personnel on the enemy ship.

Two small shells smaller than the caliber of the breech are connected together with chains, which is called chain shells, and after firing, one shell will drag the other shell centrifugally and fly out, which can tear a large hole in the sail of the enemy ship, or tear the rigging, and with luck, it can even tear off the mast and paralyze the enemy ship.

It can be said that the main role of the chain bomb is to limit the action of the enemy ship, in addition, the chain bomb also has an important role, that is, cutting,

The fast-spinning chain bullet can easily slice through enemies (mainly the ship's sailors), and is a terrifying weapon, but the hit rate is slightly lower, and it is more reflected in the damage to the mast and canvas.

Grape bullets are similar to shotguns, in which more than a dozen or even dozens of spherical iron bullets or lead bullets are packed in a shell case (barrel and box-shaped bullet body), or they are fixed together with a net pocket (looking like a large bunch of grapes), and when fired, the projectile breaks through the shackles of the projectile body under the impact of gunpowder and scatters in all directions, effectively expanding the attack range.

Unlike medium- and long-range solid shells, chain shells and grapeshot shells are used at medium and close distances of more than 100 meters, but these three shells cannot determine the outcome of a naval battle.

Solid shells, chain bombs, and grape bullets are not good, Fang Nan thought of rockets, which can be explosive weapons, and the rockets that can explode can kill and injure more people on the enemy ship, and the explosion may also cause the gunpowder on the enemy ship to be ignited and detonated, and the attack effect of rockets on enemy ships will definitely be stronger than solid cannonballs, chain bombs, and grapeshot bombs.

Of course, the rocket that Fang Nan thought of was not a Katyusha, with the current industrial base of the People's Army, it could not be made of a Katyusha, it was just a kind of large-sized drill monkey, as simple as it was, and the range could reach more than 100 meters, and the explosion power of one rocket should be greater than that of more than five grenades exploding at the same time.

Fang Nan felt that if some rockets were prepared for the ships of the People's Navy, the strength of the People's Navy would be increased by at least 30 percent, and the kind of grenade catapult device on the siege vehicle could also be installed on the Navy ships, and rockets could be launched at a distance of more than 100 meters, and grenades could be ejected at a distance of several tens of meters.

There is no need to worry about the enemy coming up, the KPA's tiger head gun can keep the enemy down.

Thinking of the rocket, Fang Nan immediately took out a blank piece of paper and sketched the shape of the rocket with a pencil, it was very simple, the speed of studying this kind of large drill monkey in the arsenal would be relatively fast.

In Foshan, the People's Army has set up a firearms research institute close to the Foshan Arsenal, and the director is the second batch of three-year education graduates, Ye Liangchou, and there are currently three main project groups in the firearms research institute, which study muskets, artillery, and grenades.

After Fang Nan drew the drawings of the rocket, he did not send the drawings directly to the Firearms Research Institute, there were drawings on the drawings and some text descriptions left by Fang Nan, but the pictures and text descriptions could not fully express Fang Nan's thoughts, and meeting was the best choice, Fang Nan directly sent someone to Ye Liangchou to bring a message, asking Ye Liangchou to come to Guangzhou City, and there was a new firearm to Ye Liangchou to develop.

After receiving the order of the governor, Ye Liangchou immediately took a few people to Guangzhou City by carriage, it is a pity that the railway road from Foshan to Guangzhou City has only been built halfway, if there is a railway road, Ye Liangchou will go to Guangzhou City faster, and the itinerary will be more comfortable.

Fortunately, the dirt road between Guangzhou City and Foshan has now been turned into a concrete road, which is much better than before.

In half a day, Ye Liangchou and his entourage took a carriage to the central government of the People's Army in Guangzhou City, waited outside the office for a while, and after Fang Nan finished processing a document in his hand, Fang Nan's secretary Dong Zhenye led Ye Liangchou and his party into the office.

"The Grand Duke!" Seeing Fang Nan, Ye Liangchou and his party shouted respectfully together.

Fang Nan said: "It's hard for a few of you to come here." ”

"It's not hard, it's not hard." Ye Liangchou hurriedly replied.

Fang Nan nodded and began to get to the point.

"This time I want you to develop a new firearm, this is the drawing, you see, I named this firearm rocket, here to fill gunpowder, light the fuse, the rocket can fly out and explode."

As soon as Fang Nan finished speaking, Ye Liangchou said, "Grand Dudu, this rocket seems to be somewhat similar to fireworks. ”

"Yes, it's a bit like fireworks, but rockets have a greater range than fireworks, and the power of the explosion is greater, so it's up to your firearms research institute to conduct research."

"Understood, guaranteed to complete the task." Ye Liangchou made a guarantee in front of Fang Nan.

Like Fang Nan thought, Ye Liangchou also felt that the structure of this new firearm called a rocket was very simple, and it only took a few days to make one for testing, and then continuously improve it, and finally create a rocket that met the requirements and could be put into actual combat.