That afternoon, the weather was clear and cloudless.

In a secret arsenal on the outskirts of Jiujiang City, a huge roar suddenly sounded, and the sound shook for nine days.

After this loud bang, I saw a large divergent crater appear on the ground, and the surrounding obstacles were almost leveled.

Seeing such power, Ning Yafeng, who came to visit the test, was so excited that her face was flushed and excited.

He could not imagine how many casualties and deterrence it would inflict on the enemy if such a powerful shell landed in the enemy's ranks.

And this kind of "landing cannon" that is shot from a cannon and can explode at the moment of landing is also researched and manufactured by a group of craftsmen led by his brother-in-law Chi Fei.

"Ah Zhen, this floor cannon is really powerful. How did you make it? Ning Yafeng couldn't wait to ask her brother-in-law beside her.

It's no wonder that Ning Yafeng is so excited, because the shells of this era are all solid, either stone balls or iron balls.

Solid artillery shells can be used to bombard the enemy's siege vehicles, arrow towers and other large equipment, and if they are used to shoot people, they are as effective as cannons fighting mosquitoes.

But the floor cannon created by his brother-in-law Chi Fei is not the same thing at all.

It can explode the moment it hits the ground, causing great damage to nearby enemies. Such a weapon is much stronger than a flowering bullet.

Because the flowering bomb is thrown by manpower, the throwing distance is limited, and it can only be used against enemies at a close distance, and can basically only be used for defense.

And this floor gun is launched through the cannon, basically how far the cannon can hit, how far this floor gun can blow, is a real offensive weapon.

Its power is in no way inferior to that of large musket arrays, and even more deterrent to the enemy because of its amazing explosive effect.

Chi Fei replied with a smile: "Second brother, in fact, the structure of this floor cannon is similar to that of the flowering shell.

The bomb body is filled with a large amount of gunpowder and then ignited to detonate.

The only difference is that the ignition method is not ignited by the lead, but by impact. ”

"Ignition by impact? What does that mean? ”

"Actually, the principle is very simple, I added some flint to the top of the projectile.

The moment the Landing Cannon hits the ground, the force of the impact causes the flints to spark due to friction.

These sparks ignite the gunpowder inside, causing the entire body of the projectile to explode.

The reason why I deliberately made the floor cannon this semi-circular cone, so that the top part containing the flint could hit the ground first and cause an explosion. ”

"I see." Ning Yafeng said suddenly.

Ning Yabai, who had been silent, couldn't help but interject: "Ah Feng, don't listen to this kid so easily.

In order to build this floor cannon, he stayed here almost every day for half a year to experiment with the craftsmen, and often returned late.

My little sister has complained to me more than once, saying that even when he returns to the house, he often draws drawings and paints until late at night.

My little sister was afraid that if this continued, his body would not be able to stand it, so I asked me to persuade him.

I've tried to persuade him several times, but he's still like this, and I can't do anything about him. Speaking of this, he couldn't help but glare at Chi Fei again.

Chi Fei smiled bitterly: "Big brother, it's not that I don't take care of my body, it's really that time waits for no one."

In fact, I had the idea of making a floor cannon as early as a year ago, that is, when the Xie family had just moved the capital to Jiangnan.

I originally thought that the dispute between the Xie family and the Hu people would take at least a few years to divide the score, so I studied it slowly and was not in a hurry.

But I didn't expect the Hu people to use the trick of spreading the plague again, coupled with the loss of Jiangkou Mansion, the Hu army took advantage of the situation to invade Jiangnan, and the Xie family's tone was estimated to not last long.

If we don't want Jiangnan to really fall into the hands of the Hu people, then we must step up preparations to send troops.

While we already have muskets and flowering shells, we lack offensive weapons at longer ranges.

So we have to fill the gap before we go to war.

In this way, whether it is against the Wei army or the Hu people in the future, we will be able to win with certainty. ”

Ning Yabai sighed and said, "I know what you think, but don't do this in the future, it's easy to burn your body." My little sister will be very worried, and so will we. ”

"It's just hard work, and now that the floor cannon has been built, I can finally relax."

After speaking, Chi Fei said to Ning Yafeng again: "Second brother, due to the urgency of time, the arsenal has only built more than 200 floor guns so far, and we will hurry up the production of them next."

You first ship the shipment to your father-in-law, and he decides how to use it.

However, I suggest that before the official war with the Hu people, it is best not to let others know about the existence of these new shells, so as not to startle the snakes.

In addition, if you can, it is better to build more cannons in the northwest, and it will definitely be used in the future. ”

"Don't worry, I'll make your words clear to my father, he knows how to do it.

I'd love to see how those Hu people would react when they saw these floor cannons explode around them. Ning Yafeng said with a fierce look in her eyes.

Ning Yabai and Chi Fei looked at each other, and the two couldn't help but smile heartily.

They also want to see this scene sooner rather than later.

……………………

Speaking of which, it was indeed their luck to be able to build this landing cannon in such a short period of time.

When he succeeded in creating an earthen grenade, that is, a flowering bomb, Chi Fei thought that it would not be too difficult to continue to build a shell that could land and explode, but after actually starting research, he found that it was not easy.

Chi Fei's original idea was to directly improve the flowering shell as a cannonball.

That is, the artillery first ignites the lead of the flowering shell, and then shoots it out from the cannon.

But after many trials, it was found that this method did not work.

Because the time when the shell hits the ground is different from the time when the lead detonates, it often takes a while for the shell to detonate after it hits the ground.

This caused two problems, one was that the shell would burst due to the strong impact force at the moment it landed, causing the gunpowder inside to scatter and prevent it from exploding.

Second, when the shell is just fired out of the barrel, the fuse that has been ignited may be extinguished by a strong impact, which will also lead to the occurrence of a dud.

In order to solve these two problems, we must first change the material of the shell shell, from the original clay shell and wooden shell to the iron shell, so that the shell will not break due to impact after it lands.

The second is to increase the thickness of the lead so that it is not easy to extinguish.

But as a result, the cost of the entire shell will rise significantly.

In ancient times, iron products were not as numerous as in modern times, and iron tools were often scarce in ancient societies under the supervision of the imperial court.

Basically, all dynasties will implement the monopoly policy of salt and iron, not only because the imperial court will use it as the main source of taxation, but also because the two are indeed scarce in ancient society.

If all the shells were wrapped in iron shells, not to mention the cost would rise significantly, and the difficulty and time of production would also increase significantly, which was not in line with Chi Fei's principle of wanting to achieve mass production.

For this reason, Chi Fei can only think of other ways to improve.

Finally, after much thought, Chi Fei finally got inspiration from the flintlock pistol and came up with the idea of using flint as a trigger for igniting a detonating cannonball.

As he said to Ning Yafeng, first he made the whole cannonball into a semi-circular cone, and then loaded some flint at the top of the cone.

In addition, he considered that the explosion required oxygen, so the material used at the tip of the conical shape was thick pottery that could be easily broken.

In this way, when the shell hits the ground, it is often the tip of the cone, which will be the first to hit the ground and form an impact, breaking this part of the thick pottery, so that air can pour in.

By striking the flint inside, sparks can easily detonate the entire cannonball.

In this way, the entire shell can explode at the moment of landing, greatly reducing the appearance of duds.

This approach has been tested and shown to be feasible.

But a new problem arises here, that is, because the shell casing is made of clay shells. When the cannon is fired, the strong impact sometimes causes the clay shell itself to crack, causing the chamber to explode.

One cannon was scrapped because of the explosion, and several people were injured.

In order to solve this problem, Chi Fei asked the craftsmen to add two shells to the shell of each shell, one wooden and the other clay.

These two layers of shell are equivalent to double safety, which together are enough to withstand the impact force of the cannon when fired, so that the danger of exploding the bore is basically solved.

From the initial research to the final formation, it took more than half a year to add up.

Although the process was quite difficult, Chi Fei was finally relieved to be able to research the landing cannon in such a short time.

The reason why he was in a hurry to study the long-range offensive weapon of the floor cannon was because Chi Fei learned from the spies scattered all over the south of the Yangtze River, especially in Xinjing, that the Wei Dynasty's Ministry of Industry was now stepping up the production of firearms day and night.

Although the musket was much inferior to the musket used by their Northwest Army, it was also a firearm that could fire lead bullets after all, and it was quite lethal.

As for how many guns have been built by the Ministry of Industry, it is not known for the time being.

Chi Fei is a cautious person, and he is used to thinking about the worst.

If the Xie family really has a large number of firearms, once the Northwest Army really confronts the Wei army in the future, even if the Northwest Army can win, it may have to pay a lot of casualties.

And next, the Northwest Army has to deal with the Hu people, the jackals outside the pass, and they can't lose too many men and horses here.

Therefore, Chi Feicai was anxious to create a long-distance offensive weapon that could be fired through a cannon before sending troops to Jiangnan.

Now that the floor cannon has been successfully developed, the next step is not only to manufacture this new type of shell in large quantities, but also to make as many iron cannons as possible.

Otherwise, it is also a headache to have bullets and no guns.

However, he didn't have to worry about making artillery, Ning Yabai had already ordered the Ordnance Bureaus of the northeastern provinces to step up the manufacture of cannons.

……………………

When Ning Yafeng rushed back to the northwest camp with more than 200 floor guns, Ning Zhiyuan, who had watched the effect of the test cannons with his own eyes, was so happy that he couldn't stop touching these new shells as if he had picked up a treasure, and he couldn't put them down.

Almost in the afternoon of the same day, Ning Zhiyuan sent fast horses to issue the latest orders to the ordnance bureaus in the northwest, ordering them to build a large number of artillery without mistakes.

That is, from that day on, under the leadership of General Ning Zhiyuan, the atmosphere of the entire northwest military preparation for war reached its peak.

Almost everyone, whether soldiers or civilians, was mobilized to prepare for war.