The Hongmao Yi Cannon is named after the maroon hair of the Portuguese second-class dealer in Haojing, so it is called the "Hongyi Cannon".

Later, it evolved into the "Red Cannon".

It is a four-wheeled pinned gun carriage with a long-barreled naval gun used on the ship, similar to the principle of recoil elimination in the pipe retreat. The recoil is not absorbed by the hull and is used for shock absorption and high-speed reset, and there are no land two-wheeled high-elevation artillery mount field guns.

At this time in Europe, a single heavy artillery had already formed four levels: long-barreled Kofilin, Canon, Pedrero who fired stone projectiles, and siege mortars.

If the enemy position is a "mountain", Pedrelro can hit the first recess, the trajectory of the mortar can cross the highest vertical to hit the second recess, and the cannon can hit the enemy at three points on the "mountain", that is, the baseline of the mountain and the bastion.

The long-bodied Kofilin is used to hit the section erected by the "mountain" and the oak hull.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the snake guns, half snake guns, eagle guns, and falcon guns that were poured into China by the Portuguese dealers were all unloaded from the ship, and they all belonged to the ship's long-barreled Kofilin cannon.

On the contrary, the Pedrelo cannon and mortar cannon, which are more suitable for siege, and the field artillery, which is light and easy to carry, no.

Artillery is the god of war, and the usage of various types of artillery is different. Napoleon was born as an artilleryman, and his famous Battle of Toulon took over the command of artillery.

In the face of land fortresses, field battles, harbor batteries, and British warships in the fjord, Napoleon took advantage of the terrain and the arrangement of artillery positions to continuously carry out asymmetrical artillery battles, and played the emperor's great prestige.

The design and use of artillery in Europe was already based on geometry in the late sixteenth century, and ballistics had already appeared.

As soon as this comes out, coupled with the artillery scale and military map, once the artillery range comes up, straddle fire, blind fire at night, and shelling outside the visual range, it will not be far off.

With the increase in the range of artillery, there is no this, as the firing distance of the two ships is getting farther and farther, there is no side of ballistics, no matter how many cannons are still native.

Ballistics is not only mathematics, but also a series of ranging instruments and diagrams.

A Portuguese caravel with a crew of 40 in Goa against 250 ships of all kinds in the kingdom of Achem. As a result, more than forty ships were sunk in the kingdom of Achem, thousands were killed, and the Portuguese suffered 0 casualties!

In addition to the factors of navigation and ships, the Portuguese mastered ballistics.

The artillery battle between the two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties was actually bombarded with Kou Feilin's naval guns, and the naval guns were still used to attack and defend the city.

But the black humor is that it is precisely China that can fight European gunboats in this era.

First, the Chinese pirates are powerful, Lin Feng, Wang Zhi, Li Dan, Zheng Zhilong, Zhang Baozai, etc., all of them are based on thousands of ships. In history, Zhang Baozai was recruited by the Qing Dynasty, and 1,200 naval guns alone were surrendered.

Second, there are people with Chinese characteristics who operate the fireboat tactics, which are flexible in operation and fast in speed. The Dutch learned from China when they operated the fireships, and earlier the European fireships were uncontrolled.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong used more than 50 gunboats and more than 100 fireships to defeat the combined Eurasian pirate fleet composed of the Netherlands, with the 13 Galen ships as the main force and Liu Xiang's more than 50 pirate ships.

In this naval battle, all the Dutch Galen gunboats were seriously wounded, the "Paradise Brook" and other four Galen ships were burned by the fireboats, the "Weiningen" was sunk by artillery, the "Slotdijk" was captured, and 118 Dutch sailors were captured, the rest of the Dutch Galen were seriously wounded and fled, and Liu Xiang's more than 50 pirate ships were all destroyed.

In this era, the Portuguese warships could not defeat the "Seven Provinces Alliance", that is, the Dutch warships, at sea.

The famous "Clark porcelain" in Europe is the Ming Dynasty porcelain obtained by the pirate ship of the Dutch East India Company, which robbed Portuguese merchant ships.

After the Portuguese merchant ships were captured, the Dutch occupied Zhoushan, Penghu and other places because of the old occupation. It was developed by itself without taking land, and the relationship with the Ming was very stiff, and there was no trade right in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

The Dutch could not buy the goods, and they could not prove the origin of the goods.

In order to prove that this batch of porcelain is from the Dehua kiln, the first-hand original Chinese blue and white porcelain from the Zhangzhou kiln, not the Japanese branch of the dragon kiln, the horizontal chamber kiln porcelain. It is not a cottage Longquan kiln, the Siamese and Vietnamese blue and white porcelain of Jingdezhen kiln.

The Dutch came up with a strange trick and simply named the stolen Chinese porcelain after the Portuguese ship type "Clark".

The "Clark" ship type has been eliminated in Europe, and the Portuguese Crake ship type was used by the Portuguese to go from Macao to Goa, sticking to the coast and going to the sea, without crossing the ocean.

The Dutch were telling the buyers that they were robbing the Portuguese merchant ships that had the right to trade in China. The robbery must be Chinese goods, and India does not produce porcelain.

As a result of the frenzy caused by the auction of "Clark" porcelain in Rotterdam, the Dutch later robbed the Portuguese merchant ship "St. Clarke" transporting Chinese porcelain in succession. Yago" with "Santa Tower. Catadena". The tens of thousands of pieces of Chinese porcelain that were stolen continued the pirate trademark of "Clark" porcelain, and the reputation of "Clark" porcelain sold in Europe was stolen.

The Chinese craftsman "sketches the blue and white brushstrokes thick and light", the Portuguese merchant ship "the sky is blue and waits for the smoke and rain", and the Dutch pirate ship catches up with "and I am waiting for you"......

Chinese blue and white porcelain is called "Clark" porcelain in Europe!

"Ninth Master, what kind of iron factory is so expensive?"

Dai Min, the guard who followed on the side, looked incomprehensible, Mo said that a thousand taels a day in advance, even an iron factory, he didn't think it could be worth a thousand taels.

Yuanji is harsh on himself, cool to the outside, and strict with his subordinates, but he has always liked to joke with the people around him, and the guards also ask questions if they have something to say, without scruples.

"If you want to make a lot of money, you have to sell the goods to the other side of the sea."

Yuan Ji walked with his hands behind his back, and instilled the aggressive idea of fighting outside to the guards around him as he walked, "But there are big ships and cannons on the sea, and we don't have bigger ships and bigger cannons, so this deal can't be done." ”

"Why can't you do it?"

Dai Min followed step by step, and said strangely, "The Yi people are all begging for tribute in exchange for our silk tea." ”

"Yes, the Spaniards in Manila are more than welcome to trade with our ships."

Yuan Ji smiled, "Our silk is 18 wen per foot, 60 wen for one foot of red silk, 160 wen for one foot of silk and silver, and four or five cents for one penny." When I arrived in Manila, it was sold in large quantities, and one foot of silk cost at least two pesos, that is, two eagles, nine silver and one copper, seven dollars and five cents of silver. ”

"Five-fold profit?" Sun Shou's mathematics is the most brilliant.

"Spaniards?" The rising sun was stunned, and he didn't know where this person jumped out.

"Little Franc Robot."

Motoyoshi explained, "There are also the Portuguese of the Great Buddha Machine, and these two machines are the main varieties of the Tamuiri. From Manila, Spain, westward, through Manraka, to Goa, India, where the Portuguese were located, a foot of silk cost three pesos, and two taels of silver. ”

"Only three times the profit?" Sun Shou muttered.

"Yes, compared to sea trade, it's not high."

Yuan Ji said with a smile, "However, when you go to Lisbon, Portugal, this foot of silk costs one tael or four coins of gold, or silver pesos equivalent to more than twenty taels of silver." ”

"Nearly ten times the profit?"

Sun Shougang counted, and was stunned again, "More than twenty taels of silver, one tael or four coins of gold?" ”

Yuanji glanced at Sun Shou approvingly and nodded: "Our silver and gold exchange is eight to eleven to one, Europa silver and gold are fourteen to sixteen to one, gold is expensive and silver is cheap, and Japan has Sado Gold Mountain, Kai Gold Mountain, Iwami Silver Mountain and other gold and silver producing areas, silver to gold is only five to one." ”

After a pause, he said with a smile, "So, these Hongmaoyi are on the Haojing-Nagasaki route, Haojing-Manila-Goa-Lisbon route, and the America-Manila-Goa-Lisbon route, using these three routes to carry out large and small triangular trade, taking advantage of the different exchange prices of gold and silver, and making a profit from large-scale hedging of silver and gold."

The former Ming thought that Xiyi's gold came from Europe and the Americas, but in fact, most of it came from Japan, mainly from Zheng Zhilong and other maritime merchants, and the pirates also bought Japanese gold.

The Spaniards only found that we were not interested in all their commodities and only had a special habit of collecting silver, so they began to frantically search for silver in the Americas, which led to a sudden increase in the supply of silver in the world.

The Spanish galleon that shipped gold from the Americas to Manila had tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and according to the western balance, there were thirty or forty tons, which was equivalent to the annual output of Iwami Silver Mountain in Japan. ”

Sun Shou and Batu, Dai Min, and Tasha all listened with golden light, and the most sincere Rising Sun was even more eager to try, and said excitedly: "Master, when are we going to grab the red hair?" ”

"That's right, just grab that book."

Tasha echoed excitedly, "If you pay such a lot of money and buy such expensive silk, there must be a book in it." ”

Yuan Ji was angry when he heard this, and said angrily: "Let's get a foot of silk and silver, one or two or four dollars, and a horse of silk and five catties of gold, which is the same weight of gold." There are one or two hundred times the profits of long-term trade that are not earned, why are you robbing others? Grab it once and go back next time, people are in ruins. ”

"What the master said is that it is more cost-effective for us to take a boat to that Lisbon."

Dai Min very much agreed with the long-term business, and Sun Shou also echoed on the side, "That's it, no wonder Hongmaoyi begs us to sell silk to him every day, dare to love one or two hundred times the profit, my God." We don't sell what he came to, we don't go to Manila, we go to Lisbon to find big dealers. ”

"But we can't go."

Yuan Ji smiled, stretched out his hand behind his back, and spread his hand, "You haven't seen Hongyi's splint ship and window cannon, right?" That's the redcoat cannon.

A Spanish galleon has 20 to 50 guns of various types. The three-masted three-layer through cannon splint battleship dedicated to naval warfare has as many as 100 guns of various types on one battleship.

Not only the cannons, but also the oak wood used to build such battleships had to be dried for twenty years.

In the West, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Spain, and France had more than 40 first-class battleships with only three masts and three layers of gun and more than 90 guns.

The battleship had three layers of gun cleats, the lowest layer of gun splints were all 32-pounder guns, the second layer was 24-pounder guns, and the top splice was an 18-pounder gun. The Hongyi cannon that the former Ming Dynasty purchased from Hongyi was an 18-pounder gun, which was actually the top-level plywood gun of the Xiyi battleship.

During the reign of Chongzhen of the former Ming Dynasty, the battleship of the Sea King built by the British had more than 100 shipborne guns, and the maximum caliber could fire 60-pound projectiles, and a salvo could launch more than 2,000 catties of projectiles.

Xiyi is equipped with tens of thousands of heavy naval guns and hundreds of large and small plywood gunboats equipped with only three levels of battleships in Xiyi. The Netherlands, which has a mouth of only more than 1.5 million, has more than 13,000 registered merchant ships alone.

We want to rob other people's routes and business, the ship is not as big as others, and the cannon is not as big as others, why? ”

After a pause, he said firmly, "The so-called benevolence is delivered with muskets, civilization relies on firepower, and truth is only within the range of cannons." There are not many cannons, and there is no weight in talking, and the iron works are made for the purpose of casting cannons and cannons! ”

"It's just some ghosts."

Tasha said disdainfully, "When the master goes out on the expedition one day, the slave is willing to open the way for the ninth master, no matter how big the cannon is, no matter how many ships there are, he will still kill him cleanly." ”

Batu, Rising Sun, and Dai Min all had an expression of approval, and Sun Shou was convinced of Tasha's words, and he didn't think that Hongmaoyi was anything great.

"Good!"

Yuan Ji laughed, and also had no objection to Tasha's words.

At this stage in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, China really didn't fear Hongyi ships at all, let alone Hongmao. On the contrary, the racial discrimination against Europeans is very strong, and the pirate Lin Feng has been to Manila, Spain.

Tang Ruowang and Nan Huairen still have to shave their braids, and they are not treated as foreign guests. It also does not attract foreign capital, business can only be done by Chinese, and people are not allowed!

China has everything, and the things in the hands of the Yi people, except for gold, silver, bronze and chiming bells, have no interest in importing anything else.

Whether it is textiles, silk, porcelain and other luxury ornaments, tea and other hobbies, it is the Yi people who beg China to allow trade. There is no shortage of steel in China, and the steel output in the Yongle period is already the sum of Europe.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the only thing that was really interested in the hands of the Yi people in China was perhaps the Hongyi cannon.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, all front-loading smoothbore guns originating from Europe were called "Hongyi cannons". The "red-coated cannon" used in the Qing army is a special reference to the ship's heavy artillery of 18 pounds and above.

The fixed-base cannons used for land batteries are long-barreled naval guns, and most of them are warships that have cut the barrel life half out and dismantled to install the batteries.

The reason why this gun is famous is that it is a long-barreled heavy naval gun, which can withstand high bore pressure and great power.

But the firing range is not far, the range of the flat aim is less than 400 meters, and the erosion cannot be tens of miles. Therefore, it is mainly used to defend the city, and it is farther to fight at a high altitude, with a maximum elevation range of more than 2,000 meters.

Field battles should be placed in front of the vehicle formation, and land battles should be mainly used to bombard the barracks and siege the city.

Dozens of 4- to 6-pounder field guns fired dozens of rounds of assault salvos, knocking out the barrels and leaving only a few shallow pits in the city walls, which were unharmed.

However, a 32-pounder cannon with dozens of shells can completely destroy a section of the city wall.

A 32-pound or 42-pound gun costs as much as dozens of 4- to 6-pound field guns in a Marine Corps in Europe combined.

The cost and duration of a British battleship was much higher than that of the British Army, which formed thirty battalions. Even a Bismarck battleship in World War II would cost much more than forming a German panzer division.

At the time of Germany's blitzkrieg attack on Poland, there were only six armored divisions in the country, and the total cost could not even build four Bismarcks.

This is the Navy, it's not that the big money really can't afford to play.

Especially in this era, heavy artillery with thick pipe walls has an extremely high scrap rate.

The main difficulty lies in the long barrel technology of the redcoat cannon, the smoothbore gun requires a smooth bore, the same caliber, and the pipe wall is thickened from the muzzle to the gun body to the gun chamber one by one, the larger the caliber, the thicker the pipe wall, the more different the cooling time of the inner and outer walls, and the easier it is to crack.

An 18-pounder redcoat cannon has a length of 3 meters, about 22 times the diameter, and a gun weight of 3 tons.

The wall thickness of the long tube is different, and the cooling rate inside and outside the barrel is not the same when casting, and it cracks as soon as it expands and contracts, and some of them cannot be seen from the outside, and there are cracks inside.

In this era, Europe and Ming and Qing dynasties and Japan did not know what was going on, and the cannon had to be tested after it was built, and it was filled with gunpowder without firing bombs and exploded in the air, so that it was qualified not to crack.

As a result, there are a lot of unqualified!