Chapter 500: Napoleonic Cannon

At the beginning of August, Sun Qinkai brought more than 20 skilled craftsmen, and his purpose, of course, was to come at the captured Hongyi cannons. After completing the design and manufacture of the Flying Dragon Cannon, Sun Qinkai devoted a lot of energy to the development of the Hongyi Cannon. Zhang Zhun also provided strong support in terms of human, financial and material resources.

However, compared with the Wyvern Cannon, the Hongyi Cannon is indeed much more difficult in terms of technology, and it involves more aspects. Therefore, until now, he has not made a real Hongyi cannon. The Hongyi cannon looks simple, but it actually involves a lot of technical points. The material alone is very difficult to pass.

Foreign cannons, many times, were cast in bronze. The performance of bronze is indeed much better than that of ordinary pig iron or wrought iron, and it is an excellent material for casting guns. However, China is a country with a severe shortage of copper, which is to be used to mint money. Casting cannons in bronze is like burning silver. This is absolutely impossible.

At the beginning, his father, Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Shandong, gathered dozens of Portuguese technicians, plus a large number of craftsmen, and spent three full years of research before finally copying the Hongyi cannon. Of all the technical difficulties, the most important is steel. It is necessary to find a suitable steel that can replace bronze. Otherwise, everything is in vain.

At that time, Sun Qinkai was still a very young man. Every day, I followed the other craftsmen and watched them curiously. To be more precise, he was just an apprentice and didn't have all the technical information. In particular, the process of casting raw materials for barrels and breeches was not mastered. This brought great difficulties to him in developing the Hongyi cannon on his own.

After three years in prison, Sun Qinkai has forgotten many details, and now, it is not easy to get them back. Because, when it comes to raw materials, Sun Qinkai can't handle it alone. It requires the full cooperation of Li Fenglai, Yin Gensheng, Zou Huoming and others, and repeated experiments. Such experiments take a lot of time.

Fortunately, the current commander of the artillery battalion, Mo Ru, also has some research on artillery. Mo Ru is a quasi-private school background, a very rare scholar-type talent. More ingeniously, he also knew some arithmetic and geometric principles. At that time, most of the people who knew how to do arithmetic were bookkeepers. And people who know some basic geometric principles are simply rare.

It must be known that artillery shooting, for mathematical calculations, is very demanding, especially in the current world, how to make artillery accurate aiming and shooting is a military secret that all countries are focusing on. Mathematicians play a very important role in this. However, in China in the Ming Dynasty, the study of mathematical sciences was stagnant. No one wants to delve into math. People who study mathematics are also not taken seriously. It wasn't until Xu Guangqi appeared that the mathematical sciences got some development. However, this development still lags behind the Western world a lot.

The cannons of the seventeenth century had only a crosshair and a gate, and there were very few other auxiliary sighting tools. The setting of the ear is also very primitive, and the scale is messy. The adjustment of the aiming angle mainly depends on the gun lug and gun carriage. And this adjustment relies more on the experience of the gunner than on the scientific calculations of the gunner.

During daily training, Mo Ru just figured out a set of cannon aiming methods. He called it triangular aiming. It is mainly based on the difference between the target, the front sight, and the door, so as to aim at the target more accurately. Xu Ziwen and Liu Chenzi strongly advocate this set of methods. After the two of them were injured, they also told Mo Ru to promote this set of aiming methods with all their hearts.

Mo Ru was very fond of studying artillery shooting technology and was equally interested in the development of artillery. If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools, which is the most basic principle. In order for artillery to exert greater power and play a greater role in the war, it is necessary to have more powerful artillery. For the time being, the more powerful artillery is the Hongyi cannon. Therefore, Mo Ru studied alone, and actually mastered a lot of knowledge about the Hongyi cannon.

In the artillery battalion of the Tiger Army, there are some original Ming artillerymen. The Ming army made extensive use of firearms, and artillery was standard equipment. There are not many people who have operated the Hongyi cannon. Mo Ru's knowledge about the Hongyi cannon was mainly obtained from them. As the saying goes, three stinkers, one Zhuge Liang. Mo Ru's knowledge about the Hongyi cannon is not inferior to Sun Qinkai. Therefore, when Sun Qinkai arrived, Brigadier General Zhang Mo Ru also called, and everyone studied the data of the Hongyi cannon together.

All the Hongyi cannons were placed in a large courtyard in the southwest of the city. Twenty-six Hongyi cannons were arranged in two rows. At a glance, it is quite powerful. Especially Mo Ru and others, they were even more impressed. On that day, they had been bombarded by Hongyi artillery. The scene of grapes falling all over the sky will never be forgotten for the rest of my life.

"That's it, that's it, that's it......" When Sun Qinkai saw these Hongyi cannons, he was obviously a little excited, and couldn't help muttering to himself.

For an artillery-making expert, the Hongyi cannon can be regarded as a real high level! At that time, the casting technology of Hongyi cannons basically represented the most advanced cannon technology at that time. If the Tiger Army can master this technology, it means that the artillery level of the Tiger Army has been in line with the world's advanced level.

The technology of the Hongyi cannon was mainly brought by the Portuguese. In fact, the relationship between the Portuguese and the Ming Dynasty has always been very good. The Hongyi cannons of the Ming Dynasty were mainly sold by the Portuguese. Some Portuguese even volunteered to work as artisans in the Ming Dynasty to earn silver for nothing. On the contrary, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch was not very good.

Considering that on the issue of fighting for Taiwan in the future, it is very likely that the Huben Navy will start a war with Dutch warships, and without more advanced artillery fire, it will absolutely not work. This is also the main reason why Zhang Zhun is eager to solve the technical difficulty of the Hongyi cannon. In the future sea battle, without the powerful Hongyi cannon, it will definitely suffer a great loss.

"What's missing?" Zhang Zhun asked with concern.

"Three parts are missing." Sun Qinkai frowned and said.

Zhang Zhun immediately asked, "Can you copy it?" ”

Sun Qinkai said slowly: "It's a little difficult! It's not impossible, though! ”

Zhang Zhun suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as you can copy the missing parts, that's a good thing. Even if the Hongyi cannon can't be imitated for the time being, as long as these twenty-six Hongyi cannons can be repaired and used, they can play a great role. Don't forget, the number of flying dragon cannons in the Tiger Army is quite a lot. Twenty-six Hongyi cannons, plus hundreds of flying dragon cannons, no matter what the opponent is, it is enough for the opponent to drink a pot. It is not a problem to take Dengzhou City.

Sun Qinkai further explained that he still has to test the problems of parts and components. The key is still the issue of raw materials. As long as the problem of raw materials is solved, all other problems will be solved. He was going to pull a Hongyi cannon back to the cannon foundry in Fushan City, dismember it, and study it well.

Zhang Zhun nodded and said, "It's okay, what we have is time." ”

Sun Qinkai's confidence is even more sufficient.

Zhang Zhun didn't put any pressure on Sun Qinkai, but Sun Qinkai himself felt a high degree of pressure. The pressure came from his father. His father, Sun Yuanhua, was unjustly killed because of Kong Youde's rebellion. Now, Kong Youde is in Dengzhou City. There were also two slave chieftains, Dorgon and Dord, who were also in the city of Dengzhou.

As long as he recovers all these Hongyi cannons, and then according to the results of his research, he can imitate more Hongyi cannons, Dengzhou City will be finished. The power of the Hongyi cannon was enough to completely collapse the walls of Dengzhou City. As long as the walls of Dengzhou City are blown down, everyone inside will not be able to escape.

If Sun Yuanhua's biggest enemy is two, one is Wen Tiren and the other is Kong Youde. Without Kong Youde's rebellion, Sun Yuanhua would not have died. Without Wen Tiren's fall into the well, Sun Yuanhua would not have died. Wen Tiren couldn't deal with it for the time being, so he took Kong Youde to open the knife first.

"I know there's a more advanced artillery, I wonder if it's possible to copy it?"

After the discussion about the Hongyi cannon ended, Zhang Zhun said slowly.

"More advanced artillery?"

Sun Qinkai suddenly became interested.

Mo Ru's eyes were also shining.

"That's right, more advanced and more flexible artillery."

Zhang Zhun said calmly.

In these days, Zhang Zhun lay on the door panel, carefully measured the composition of his artillery, and found many problems. The time when the artillery of the Tiger Army was established has actually been a long time. After Zhang Zhun captured Fushan City, a special artillery team had been set up. Later, the artillery corps continued to expand, and eventually expanded into an artillery battalion.

However, the chances of artillery going into battle were slim. It was during this Huangxian War that the artillery really exerted its power and caused huge damage to the Tartars. However, except for the Battle of Huangxian, in other battles, the artillery did not have a chance to fight. For example, when Da Songwei came to the Japanese Invaders, the artillery battalion did not arrive at the battlefield in time.

Zhang Zhun invested a lot of manpower, material, and financial resources in the technological development of artillery. However, the effect is quite unsatisfactory. I feel like the money is thrown in, but I don't see the effect. After some careful thinking, Zhang Zhun found the reason. His land artillery, a serious lack of mobility. It's not that the power of the cannon is not enough, it's not that the number of cannons is not enough, it's not that the operation of the cannon is not skilled enough, but it can't rush to the battlefield quickly.

Hongyi cannon aside, for the time being. The movement speed of the Hongyi cannon is definitely a tragedy. Even if the dragon cannon rushes to the battlefield, it is as slow as a snail. By the time the artillery arrived at the front, the battle was over. When Da Songwei came to attack the Japanese invaders, Zhang Zhun also ordered the artillery to attack as soon as possible. However, by the time the artillery arrived, the battle had been over for three days. In the battle of Huangxian, it took several days for the artillery to finally arrive in Huangxian.

And the artillery of the Navy, there is no such problem at all. Because, the warship can maneuver effectively and can run around with cannons. The warships of the navy are the best carriers of artillery. Such a carrier is not available on land. Ordinary ox carts, horse-drawn carts, donkey carts, mule carts, and warships are not of the same grade at all.

In fact, Zhang Zhun's requirements for artillery are no longer just to equip Hongyi cannons. On the basis of the Hongyi cannon and the Flying Dragon cannon, he wants to study more light and powerful artillery. This kind of artillery must first have mobility, be able to move quickly, and be able to effectively cooperate with infantry combat. Where the infantry appears, it can follow. Even, such artillery can be directly formed with the infantry and act collectively.

He remembered the most popular Napoleonic cannon of the XIX century. The so-called Napoleonic cannon, named after the French Emperor Napoleon III, was highly mobile, fierce, and an extremely simple and effective weapon to manufacture and use. Its exact designation should have been the M1857 Type 12-pounder (5.44 kg) breech gun. From the point of view of the history of warfare, this artillery is the best combat weapon for Mini shells.

The four-year American Civil War (April 1861 to April 1865) was the most brutal war in American history. More than 500,000 people died in combat or from disability or disease, and even World War II did not cost the United States such a large number of casualties. From the beginning to the end of the war, artillery played an important role. The first shot of the war was fired in 1861 at Fort Sumter, North Carolina, by a heavy shore gun.

In many ways, the American Civil War reached its highest point in the era of front-loading artillery technology. In this brutal war, various artillery, shells and tactics came out one after another, and were used and perfected in the war. Mini shells were also perfectly used in this war. An ordinary worker, relying only on the simplest tools, can make 3,000 mini bullets a day.

The warring sides used a lot of Mini shells and a lot of Napoleonic guns, which caused very large casualties. The direct battlefield death toll of the American Civil War exceeded 200,000. This is a height that has never been reached in previous wars. It can be seen that the ferocity of the Mini bullet. And in addition to the murderous Mini bullet, another accomplice is the Napoleon cannon.

Because the Napoleonic cannon was cast from bronze rather than iron, it was extremely strong and able to withstand the blast of a heavy or double charge without breaking. Its 117 mm bore is capable of holding heavy iron shells weighing up to 5.44 kg. Propelled by a standard 1.13-kilogram firing charge, the Napoleon was able to accurately project a standard twelve-pounder shell at an angle of 5 degrees to a distance of 1,480 meters, and a staggering 10 meters at an angle of 1,911 degrees.