In the case of a field battle, Marin's army of 20,000 and the army of Lübeck and Hamburg of 10,000 could completely defeat the Danes. However, it is certain that when you see so many enemy troops, the other party will definitely choose to retreat into the castle and defend it.www.biquge.info

The last time I attacked Jävre Castle, a heavy oak gate and so many Kohorn mortars actually bombarded for more than a day, which made Marin very dissatisfied. In fact, although the Korhorn mortar has a relatively small charge and saves gunpowder, the impact of the shells is also insufficient, and it depends entirely on the impact brought by weight. So, Marin was expecting more powerful artillery.

For example, the famous "Hongyi Cannon", that is, the 18-pounder British-made Kofeilin cannon, was full of power when it bombarded the city walls. Although the shells were not as heavy as those of the Korhorn mortars, the impact was definitely greater than that of the other side. Why? Because the charge is different......

The Cohorn mortar, although the shell weighed 24 pounds, could charge up to 255 grams. Even if the purity of gunpowder is not high, only 280 grams are used, which is more than half a pound.

The Hongyi cannon, on the other hand, has a shell weighing 18 pounds, and the charge is based on the principle of 1 to 3, and it can hold up to 6 pounds of gunpowder. Therefore, although the caliber is not as large as the Cockhorn shelling, the speed at which the cannon is discharged is much faster than that of the Cockhorn shelling. Bombarding the oak door with the Hongyi cannon is definitely much more efficient than the Korhorn shelling.

But the biggest problem is that the Hongyi cannon is too heavy, weighing 2 tons. Such a heavy gun body, plus the gun carriage, is very heavy. Generally speaking, it was difficult for a horse to pull a gun cart loaded with Hongyi cannons. Even if it is pulled, it is a snail crawl and often needs to rest. Therefore, in ancient times, to transport Hongyi cannons on land, not only did it take more than one horse to pull the cart, but also a large number of people. Because, when the carriage was going uphill, it was dragging two or three tons of heavy loads, and it could not go uphill, so more than a dozen people had to be sent to pull forward and push backwards......

So, as long as you go out with the Hongyi cannon, don't think about a fast march......

And Marin's military thinking is fast, and it is best to blitzkrieg, so that the other side has no time to react, similar to the German thinking in World War II. However, due to the lack of siege weapons, it is difficult to do it quickly. It's okay to bypass the opponent's fortress, but it's very dangerous to be cut off by the enemy forces in the fort.

From the last shelling of Yevre, Marin can be seen in it. Although the Korhorn mortar is much more capable of attacking the city than those three-pounder and six-pounder guns, but that's it. Even with a large number of Kohorn mortars, against an average fortress, it will take several days to bombard.

Therefore, Marin was particularly eager to obtain a heavy artillery that was easy to transport and more powerful than the Corhorn bombardment, and could be used to siege the city.

Supposedly, this kind of idea should be an extravagant hope, but Marin's extravagant hope came true......

It turned out that Marin had previously arranged for the foundry to develop the Karen naval gun, which required that the length of the barrel be shortened to reduce the weight of the gun body under the condition that the caliber remained the same. In this way, the barrel of the gun is shorter, and the ammunition reloading can be accelerated. The weight is lower, and it is easier to transport and reset.

Originally, Marin had intended for craftsmen to forge a standard Cullen gun with a caliber of 32 pounds and a total weight of 771.8 kilograms. It's just that after so long, the craftsmen are still very conservative. Only now did the transitional Karen naval gun with a total weight of 750 kg and a caliber of 18 pounds be made.

When Marin went to inspect the cannon foundry, he was very dissatisfied with the progress of the development of the Cullen naval gun. However, after seeing the R&D progress and data, he came up with a new idea......

"Karui (cannon smith, old John's apprentice, formerly your blacksmith on the island of Texel), you said that you have now made a 750-kilogram, 18-pound Karen cannon?" Marin asked earnestly.

Karui, the chief engineer of the Second Cannon Foundry, nodded affirmatively:

"Yes, Lord Earl, we have developed an 18-pound Cullen cannon with a total weight of 750 kilograms!"

Most of the craftsmen of the Second Cannon Foundry were serf craftsmen sent by Marin on the island of Texel to learn how to cast cannons from Old John. Marin had already taught them the technique of cooling the Rodman inner mold, but not to John Sr. at the First Foundry. Therefore, the qualified rate of finished products for casting heavy guns in the No. 2 Foundry Factory is much higher than that of the No. 1 Foundry Factory. Moreover, Marin also believed more in the serf craftsmen of the Second Cannon Foundry.

It's just that because these craftsmen are serfs, they have little education and their IQs are not high. Marin asked them to improve their artillery and develop the Karen Cannon. Until now, the 18-pound Cullen Cannon has only been made, and the progress is slow, and there is still a long way to go from the target of 32 pounds.

Even with the 18-pounder Karen naval gun, the data is not right. Because, Marlin, who has played the game of great navigation, clearly remembers that the British standard 32-pounder Cullen naval gun should weigh 771.8 kilograms and be 1.219 meters long......

However, the craftsmen of the Second Artillery Foundry made an 18-pound Karen naval gun, which actually weighed 750 kilograms, which shows that the technical level is still limited. You know, the steel they use is medium and low carbon steel, not wrought iron. Although the carbon content is not well controlled. But whether it is medium carbon steel or low carbon steel, the quality is much better than that of wrought iron, and it is more suitable for casting guns.

Marin also lost some confidence in these serf-born cannon smiths, but fortunately, he had already implemented education for all, and even in the villages, the artisan schools were fully promoted. In the future, when the students in these artisan schools grow up, Marin intends to let them completely replace these serf craftsmen who rely purely on experience and have a low level of education, and become the main force of cannon casting.

But anyway, the 18-pounder Cullen naval gun......

"By the way, Karui, if you put a gun mount on these 18-pounder Cullen guns and convert them into infantry guns, it should be fine, right?"

Marin suddenly had a brain hole - since the Cullen cannon is not heavy, the caliber is large, and the power is full, why can't it be converted into an infantry cannon and used to siege the city? At the very least, it was much more powerful than the Cockhorn Bombardment. After all, it was a straight-line bombardment, it was easy to aim, and the kinetic energy was still large......

Karui thought for a moment and replied:

"It should be fine, Lord Earl, if you put the 18-pounder Cullen gun in a gun carriage, the total weight will probably be more than 1 ton. If it is pulled by a horse-drawn cart, you can only take a flat road, otherwise, it will be difficult to transport. If you take the small road, you will not be able to move quickly, unless, using two horse-drawn carts, you can keep up with the march of the large army......"

"That's no problem, as long as you wait to take it to siege the city, it's worth wasting some animal power......" Marin can fully imagine that using the Cullen Cannon Infantry Version to bombard the city gate is not only more powerful than the Korhorn mortar, but also much easier to aim. Because, the gunner only needs to aim directly through the lookout hill behind the barrel......

As for the transportation of artillery, it is a difficult problem. Because, you can't guarantee that the gun carriage will definitely walk on a flat road. If you encounter rough roads or swampy areas, it is indeed difficult to transport heavy artillery.

Therefore, Marin specially instructed that the wheels of the gun carriage should be made wider to distribute the pressure and prevent the gun carriage from being stuck in the dirt road and not moving.

As for the horses that pulled the cart, Marin intended to use two horses to pull an infantry version of the Karen gun for the time being. Thinking of the question of pulling strength, Marin suddenly remembered the Hercules of the horses, the English Sharma.

The Shire horse is the heaviest horse in the world, tall and can reach a height of more than 2 meters at the shoulder. Moreover, the strength is so great that a single horse can pull 5 tons of beer. Of course, that's on a modern flat road. There were no smooth asphalt and cement roads in those days. As a result, its ability to deliver goods will be greatly reduced. But in any case, the "Hercules" of horses like Sharma has no problem pulling a gun carriage with a total weight of one or two tons on a single horse.

However, the breed of Shire horse does not seem to have been finalized yet. So, Marin needs to send someone to England to carefully search for this tall breed. After finding this giant breed, Marin would order a large-scale introduction and train it to be a high-level horse responsible for pulling heavy artillery to facilitate the march of artillery units.

In addition, when renovating the existing dozen or so 18-pounder Cullen naval guns, Marin specially asked Karui to paint the barrels of all guns with copper paint to deceive others. Let others think that these heavy artillery pieces are all copper. What the hell, look at how red my artillery is? Okay, you can also build one, a cannon and a ton of copper, and see if you have the financial resources......