Guo Shao received a report that the Ordnance Supervisor had cast an iron cannon and had successfully tested the stone.

He personally went to the Beiyuan Firearms Workshop to watch, and asked Zan Jurun to accompany him. When he got to the place, Guo Shao saw several short and thick cannons, all cast in iron, with six iron rings on the barrels, which looked very strange, completely different from the appearance of the cannons in his impression; This thing in front of me doesn't look like a cannon, but like a long oil drum!

Zan Jurun said: "We have been ordered to cast two kinds of cannons, this one is the largest, weighing five hundred catties!" The muzzle diameter of the gun is nine inches and six minutes (about three hundred and twenty millimeters), and the length of the gun is four feet ......"

Guo Shao nodded to indicate that he was listening carefully, thinking that the ratio of caliber and length was only more than four to one, no wonder it looked like a barrel. There is also a base at the bottom of the barrel, which is a wooden base to hold the gun body, so it looks very strange and does not look like a gun.

Zan Jurun continued: "It can fire more than 100 catties of stone bullets, with a range of 600 steps!" ”

"Should it be a muzzle diagonal projectile?" Guo Shao immediately asked. Because of such a thick and short caliber, such a large stone, it is impossible to shoot too far, and it will definitely hit the ground directly if it is not far away.

Sure enough, Zan Jurun said: "It can only be like this, launch like a rock-throwing car." However, the minister thought that this cannon was far better than the stone throwing car, the range was longer, and the stone bullet was heavier and more powerful. Moreover, the cost of casting iron cannons is less than that of making stone throwing cars, and it is not easy to break; Stone-throwing trucks can be easily damaged. **The only thing that the cannon is unsatisfactory is that it is very slow to reload. ”

Guo Shao ordered the test. The craftsmen came up to tinker with the filling, poured the ** into it with a dustpan, and then a big man put it in with a round stone, and filled the soil to plug the gap. Guo Shao sat down next to the wooden table in the distance, and wrote and drew while observing. According to the description of Zan Jurun's size, the spherical volume of the stone bullet is calculated according to the volume formula...... Then the density of the stone is about three times that of water, and Guo Shao quickly estimated that the weight of the stone is indeed about 100 catties!

The craftsmen put a piece of paper-wrapped red medicine through the small hole in the bottom of the cannon, and shouted: "Your Majesty, the villain is on fire!" ”

Guo Shao put down the brush and blocked his ears with his fingers, and after a while, a person took a torch and lit a fuse, which quickly burned in. Suddenly, there was a loud "boom", and the brushes on the wooden case were shaken and jumped, and I saw the flames of the muzzle of the cannon erupt, thick white smoke rising, and a stone flying into the air with a visible trajectory. It took a while before it landed on the grass in the distance.

Guo Shao looked into the distance and saw that there was a brick-clad earth wall that was used as a target. They fired several more shots, one of which hit the city wall, and the sound of stones hitting could be heard far away. At this time, Guo Shao turned over and got on the horse, and ran to the landing site with the group to watch. The three big pits on the grass were all smashed by stone cannons, and the earthen wall in front was hit by a stone, although it was impossible to collapse, but the female wall and bricks on it were smashed to pieces!

The scene in front of him immediately made Guo Shao think that this thing can be used to siege the city, which is better than a stone throwing car.

…… Then Guo Shao watched the test of another small cannon. The appearance of the casting is similar to the cannon just now, but it is smaller, only weighs more than fifty pounds, the same as an iron bucket, the wall of the cannon is thinner, and it is hooped with iron rings.

This cannon is stone-breaking, loading dozens of gravel at once for area strikes.

However, the effect of the scatter bomb is a bit unsatisfactory, and it can only cover an area of 20 paces away, and the width of the coverage is less than 10 steps; No matter how far it goes, it will not be lethal, because the gravel flying out of the muzzle of the large-caliber cannon will be in an uncertain direction, some will fly upward, some will hit the ground closely, and a little farther away, there will not be many stones that can be at the right height. It is also because of this that the gravel can form an area strike, and if it is all in one direction, the coverage is narrower.

Guo Shao estimated that if there was cavalry in front, because the cavalry was relatively sparse with each other in order to prevent collision when charging, it would probably hit two or three horsemen with one shot, but the close damage to the dense infantry might be greater.

The role of the shotgun is much worse than Guo Shao's imagination, and it feels that it is not very practical; Maybe the reason why this kind of artillery made by the ordnance supervisor is not as good as Qi Jiguang's Huzun cannon...... But it's reasonable to think about it, if the shotgun can kill far and wide, then what is the value of the musket salvo?

So Guo Shao personally named the cannon that threw big stones "Long Xiao Cannon", but did not name the cannon that hit small stones.

……

Guo Shao spent a lot of effort, and most of the firearms he came up with were not as effective as cold weapons, but only the Longxiao cannon was the most useful, and it could replace the stone-throwing vehicle to attack the city.

But he still did not give up firearms. The bronze gun cast by the previous ordnance supervisor has an effective range of 40 paces and a more lethal range of 20 steps; When it comes to practical crafting, the firing method is similar to that of a gun, with a small hole drilled in the back, a lead is placed in the small hole, and then an open flame is ignited. Then a number of iron rings with iron spikes were added to the barrel; A handle was cast in the back...... The idea is that after firing the buckshot, it can be used as a mace!

The gun has completely departed from Guo Shao's original intention, and its appearance is becoming more and more weird, but he can't help it, because with the current performance, it is more practical to do it this way.

However, he felt that this bronze gun still needed to be improved, and that was the ignition method. You can imagine how inconvenient it is for one person to take a torch and lead the fuse when he goes into battle, and if the torch is extinguished, it will really be a complete mace!

Guo Shao thought of the arquebus ignition method. He had given up on flint for the time being, because the part was too difficult to make, and he couldn't remember what the structure was, and he couldn't figure it out for a while.

The craftsmen of the firearms workshop couldn't make anything like this in a short time, because they had never seen it. Guo Shao designed his own mechanism in the iron shop of the Hall of Grace, and the principle to be realized is very simple: that is, use a mechanism to press the ignited fire rope into the **; Then the firing is realized.

It's just such a simple thing, Guo Shao didn't figure it out after several evenings, and found a lot of problems...... For example, if you want to press the fire rope directly into the barrel, the ignition hole will be relatively large, which will affect the air tightness and further reduce the performance of the gun; There is also a fire rope exposed near **, which is easy to go off the fire, because ** is on fire at one point; Ordinary hemp rope or cloth strip rope burns too quickly......

In addition, this firing mechanism is not complicated, but if it is behind the barrel, it is easy to be damaged if it is used as a mace; It's also not a good idea.

Guo Shao felt a little headache, only to feel that even if it was the most backward technology in the eyes of later generations, it was not easy to improve. But he was still unwilling to give up this road, so he had to be patient and slowly grope for himself and the people of the weapons prison.