PS: Actually, the artillery thing hasn't been finished yet, but after this chapter is over, the artillery will pause first, and start with political and cultural reforms, such as the civil service system and universities~⊙?⊙! ~

This is the third shift today, and the first shift will be tomorrow...... Abide by the principle of the two beasts and do not waver......

……

In addition to dealing with the French in the foothills of the Pyrenees and the Indians in North and South America, the mountain grenade also had many uses in Spain itself.

Catalonia, for example, can try these bombs in the mountains and on the edge of farmland if they wish.

But, alas, Catalonia has been honest lately and does not dare to make any moves.

And the most active place in mainland Spain will be the southern part of Castile!

It's Andalusia and Granada!

Under the current unprecedented intensity of contradictions between Christianity and the Church of Peace, the Moors there will sooner or later revolt.

The Moorish riots could be a means for Ferdinand to weaken the Castilian nobility, but they had to be put down eventually.

Historically, the Castilian army has had many flaws in its suppression, such as the fact that a group of Castilian troops, including Gonzalo's brother, was introduced into the valley by the Moors and then slaughtered.

The Aragonese army could not be in this situation, and if they had some twelve-pounder mountain howitzers in their hands, they would certainly not be so defenseless.

Between the mountains of southern Spain, the mountain pomegranate is a true mountain pomegranate that maximizes its strengths. Gone would have been the end of the history when the Spanish army had been unable to use artillery in the mountains, and mountain grenades, combined with three-pounder guns and Mushtec arquebuses, could harvest Moorish lives to their heart's content.

Of course, whether or not to suppress the Moors with all their might depends on the game between Ferdinand and the Castilian nobles, who can become a drag on the Castilian nobles.

The specific establishment of mountain grenades on the battlefield can theoretically be organized into an artillery battery with 33 mules, which can carry all the artillery, a spare gun mount, various artillery equipment and 288 shells.

However, it can be more flexible in practical applications, for example, usually four guns can be organized into a company, which was enough to bombard the enemy army in the early 16th century. Even, against low-end opponents such as the Moors and Indians, the artillery company could be dismantled and a single gun attached to the army. Since it was suitable for cavalry artillery, most of it was assigned to cavalry, and a small part was assigned to infantry. The "donkey artillerymen" armed with mountain grenades could hang the whole howitzer on the back of a trailer and let a mule pull it away, and when loaded, the first mule carried the gun body, the second carried the gun carriage and wheels, and the third dragged two ammunition boxes. The mules are spaced 2 yards apart, and each mule can carry 250-300 pounds, which is about 120~150 kilograms.

Ferdinand expanded the artillery in the Aragonese army, adding cavalry regiments to specialized cavalry artillery companies, and drawing gunners from each cavalry company. A mountain howitzer has only six gunners, which is much better than other large field howitzers that require eight or nine gunners.

In order to further increase the lightness, Ferdinand also prepared to cut down a large number of aspen trees, oak trees, and cen trees to make ammunition boxes, gun carriages, wheels, axles, etc., for long poplar wood......

Mountain grenades can fire a variety of shells, such as solid, grenade, shrapnel, shotgun, or grape shells, with a black powder charge, usually less than 1 pound, and a muzzle velocity of 650 ft/s. So an ammunition box can hold eight shells of various types, for example, two grenades, six grenades, oh, you can also stuff one more shotgun, so that there are nine bullets, and the empty weight of the ammunition box is 20 pounds, which is only nine kilograms, which is a world of difference compared to the ammunition box of an ordinary 12-pound howitzer weighing more than 500 pounds......

However, while lightness, portability, and versatility are important advantages of the mountain grenade, the mule is not perfect for transport.

In the early modern period, the main animals used for artillery were horses, mules and cattle. Although mules have a larger load than horses and are easier to raise than horses, so mountain grenades are pulled by mules, but in fact, field artillery generally does not use mules to pull artillery and ammunition carts: under heavy artillery fire, horses and mules will panic, but horses will only raise their hooves, while mules will scream and roll, and they cannot control it at all.

During the American Civil War, mountain grenades were still mainly used because mules were more capable of passing than horses in hilly areas, and on the battlefield, mountain grenades could be pushed into the line of fire by manpower, leaving mules behind.

However, judging from some bad cases of the Southern Army, this is not very reliable.

For example, in the Battle of Port Republic, a mountain howitzer company of the Southern Army was hidden in the valley, their position was very safe, and the artillery fire of the Northern Army could not hit at all, but the mules did not know how to think, they could only hear the sound of shells, and then they would kick, jump, and roll, and three or four people could control these guys.

Well, Ferdinand didn't have a particularly good way to do this, the only thing that worked a little was to introduce military horses in the field - to distinguish the objects of war, for the Moors and Indians, of course, mules were enough, these people were still in the age of cold weapons, even if the Moors had some small cannons, they couldn't be climatic at all.

For the French, you have to bring some military horses to carry these mountain grenades, otherwise you will be frightened by the French artillery and make trouble, but the artillery of the French in the early 16th century is obviously incomparable with the American Northern Army, and there should be no big problem...... Right?

……

Hehe, in addition to the M1841 twelve-pounder mountain howitzer, Ferdinand can even come up with a lighter artillery, that is, a twelve-pounder mortar, it seems that the Americans' brains are also quite big.

This lighter mortar is a smaller version of the M1838 Type 24-pounder mortar, with a barrel of 75 pounds and an oak base of 70 pounds, all of which add up to only 145 pounds, a total of just over 60 kilograms, which can be moved by two people. A strong person can even be alone.

There were really many artifacts in the Civil War, but the United States and the world at that time did not realize their far-reaching significance, so they were buried in the long river of history......

For example, this one is the protagonist of this book, Ferdinand II, and the great teacher of communism, Engels, yes, it was really introduced by the great teacher - the ultimate mid-19th century artillery artifact: the Wetworth breech rifle!

The Wetworth breech rifle rifle is a rifled gun and breech gun, which was not invented by the Americans, but was designed by the Englishman Wetworth and made in England. Although it was not very common during the Civil War, it was one of the pioneers of modern artillery.

Of course, the Wetworth breech rifle is a series, and it comes in three models, a three-pounder, a twelve-pounder, and an eighty-pounder (it's 80 pounder, yes, caliber 223.52 mm)!

But the most commendable of them all was the twelve-pounder Wottworth breech rifle. Is it really twelve good cannons since ancient times?

Its chamber was not round, but hexagonal, and according to Engels, the rifling was almost twice as much as that of Armstrong's guns; In order to adapt to the shape of the gun and facilitate handling, the shells were loaded from the tail of the gun.

The Watworth breech rifle rifle is very robust and durable, with a chamber life of more than 3,000 rounds.

But what's even more amazing is its accuracy:

Napoleon guns fired from 1600 yards away and could hit the barn.

And this Wetworth breech rifle rifle fired ten shots in a row at the same distance, and the impact point was only five inches off!

At the beginning of the 16th century, this could be used as a "sniper gun", it was exactly the rhythm of a sniper!

It could even be used to fire at water targets, and if the eighty-pound Wetworth breech rifle rifle was used, even the largest battleship of the time would have to retreat obediently!

Of course, the high accuracy, durability and power of this cannon (the shells are very hard and do not carry lead shells) make it ideal for street fighting, but it is not known how many cities or castles are left after being bombarded thousands of times by this cannon...... It is really a real city scavenger, the best choice for killing people and sniping street fights! A powerful weapon of the proletarian revolution in Great Britain! …… It's a pity that the Great Guru doesn't have ...... at hand

Of course, a good cannon must be made of good materials, and without Ferdinand's technology tree, the natives of the early 16th century would have had to look up to the sky: since there was no gap between the cannonball and the breech, it was necessary to lubricate it with a mixture of wax and oil and reduce the void at the same time. And most importantly, it was "homogeneous iron" that cast the barrel and shells. Don't think it's wrought iron, it's actually an out-and-out mild steel with a carbon content of 0.06%! If it is other people in other countries, there is nothing to be done, where to find mild steel?

Ferdinand's open-hearth steelmaking can produce low-carbon steel, but the output is not high, although this kind of artillery artifact is approved, but the design, materials, lubricants, etc. will take time, at least in the second half of 1496 to start production, but in the second half of 1496 want to produce is not practical, other mass-produced artillery is waiting......

So, the production of such artillery could not begin until 1497. Only then will it be possible for the heads of independent elements to be blown to pieces by it......

Ferdinand now looks back and thinks about it, those Catalans are really happy, I don't know what is going on in my head, if they knew, would they have crashed into the wall and died first, at least leaving a whole corpse......