[I overestimated myself, I thought I could do it at noon, but I'm only writing it now.] 】

While listening to Han Gang's explanation, Guo Kui circled around the artillery a few times.

The anger on his face had disappeared unconsciously, his expression was focused, and he turned back to the appearance of a well-known handsome man in the world.

Han Gang looked at him and stretched out his hand to pat the barrel of the cannon, then looked up and asked, "Can you give it a try." ”

"Absolutely." Han Gang said, "But we have to fix it again." ”

He didn't want to hit the Guo family's house anymore.

Guo Kui nodded, and then carefully observed the soldiers of the Firearms Bureau carefully adjusting the angle of the barrel.

The frame for relaxing the wooden cannon has long been removed, and a frame of a pulley block has been installed, like a gantry crane, and below is a gun mount piled up of earth. If you want to adjust the angle, you need to move it hoisted by a pulley block and adjust it on the gun mount. That is, because the mound of soil was not strong, the angle of the cannon was offset, allowing the shells to fly to Guo Kui's mansion.

It's just that they were too cautious, and it looked like the muzzle of the gun was rushing down. This is a snake bite for ten years afraid of the well rope.

"That's not going to work. Cannonballs will fall out. Be flat. ”

Then there was another rush of work. After a long time, I finally adjusted.

Guo Kui's brows furrowed: "So troublesome? ”

"There will be a bracket after that."

Han Gang beckoned and asked people to take out a few drawings. This is the outline of the cannon that he ordered the painter to draw. The first one is the field cannon in Han Gang's memory, with wheels, a gun carriage, a gunner next to him for comparison, and a cannonball at his feet, Han Gang pointed it to Guo Kui.

It's intuitive to have a picture. Guo Kui glanced at it twice, and then he knew the characteristics of the new weapon with wheels. It is indeed more suitable for field warfare than thunderbolt artillery, and it seems to be designed for accompanying the army.

He took the picture and looked at it carefully, and asked, "Is this gun carriage strong enough?" The artillery does not look light. ”

"The artillery barrel is 1,100 catties, and it will not be too bad after it is officially finalized, and it can normally hold up. But when the shell is fired, there will be a lot of recoil, so the gun carriage must have enough weight, otherwise it will be unstable. ”

"Two thousand pounds?"

Han Gang thought about it for a moment, "It won't be more than two thousand five." ”

"That's a little lighter than a big car." Guo Kui nodded slightly.

The four-wheeled Taiping cart is generally not a problem to carry five or six thousand catties, and such carriages can be seen on the official road from time to time. The reliability of the 2,500-pound cannon body with gun carriage will of course not be a problem.

"What about launches? How to do it. ”

Guo Kui asked, Han Gang gestured, this time Zhang Dian no longer went up to ignite, several soldiers cleared, charged, loaded, loaded leads, ignited, and after the last loud noise, green smoke rose. Guo Kui's ears buzzed for a while, and it took a long time to calm down. When he looked up and saw Han Gang and Zhang Dian looking at him, he was immediately a little embarrassed, and reluctantly smiled: "It's really similar to thunder, and the firecrackers during the New Year are not comparable." ”

After a sentence, Guo Kui turned his head to look at the target, and the emotions in his heart disappeared in a blink of an eye.

At a distance of thirty paces, the cannonball actually pierced through the triple plank, and sank deep into the mound of sand by the courtyard wall.

Three layers of nearly an inch thick pine plank, with asbestos in them, did not even eat at all. Guo Kui touched the hole in the wooden board, feeling that it was an iron-clad city gate, and it was estimated that he would not be able to withstand a few hits. And it's much easier to fire than a Thunderbolt and an Ox crossbow.

Guo Kui is a veteran, so if the weapon is placed in his hand, dozens of tricks can be conjured, and new tactics pop up in his mind one by one on the spot. At this time, Guo Kui admired Han Gang a little, and he couldn't figure it out.

It has a range of seven or eight hundred paces, and it is easier to rewind than an eight-ox crossbow. Once the official army was equipped with artillery, it would be difficult for the Liao State to get close to the military formation of the official army.

Whether it is cavalry or foot soldiers, they must gather before attacking, and even the Khitans cannot avoid it. Do you want the Khitans to gather two or three miles on their war horses, and then storm the front of the Song army?

Fast as a horse race, in long-distance races, it is not uncommon to hear about the sudden death of a racehorse. Even if it is an ordinary two-mile or three-mile gallop down, the horses will be covered in sweat. If there is a rider riding on it, who is fully armed and has two hundred pounds of man-belt, no matter how good the horse is, it will not be able to withstand two or three miles of galloping.

That's the benefits of artillery. Break up the enemy's build-up directly from a great distance and disrupt the enemy's attack rhythm. In fact, similar things can be done with bed crossbows, and thunderbolts can barely do it. However, artillery can do field battles with the army, but bed crossbows and thunderbolt can't do it.

Thunderbolt cannons can only come in handy during sieges. The eight bull crossbows are only settled in the offensive and defensive battles of the city. As for artillery, the applicability is much broader. Compared to thunderbolts and eight-ox crossbows, they are more agile and lightweight.

This is just a trial work, and now it has the power comparable to that of the Thunderbolt Cannon and the Eight Bull Crossbow, and when the improvement is completed, it may be necessary to leave these two former national heavy weapons far behind.

Guo Kui turned to look at Han Gang, and sighed for a long time: "When I saw it today, I knew that what Xuanhui said was true. ”

Han Gang smiled humbly and was about to speak, but Guo Kui's attention was attracted by the second drawing in Han Gang's hand.

The drawings of the field artillery were in Guo Kui's hands, and the drawings in Han Gang's hands, Guo Kui originally thought that they were painted with the same artillery, but judging from the part of the rolled up drawings, it was completely different.

"What's that?" Guo Kui immediately asked.

"In front is a field cannon, and this one is a foot cannon." Han Gang unfolded the drawings, which were indeed different from field guns, which had no wheels and only a two-legged bracket in front.

He pointed to the gunner on the picture as a mark, and it could be seen that this kind of cannon was very light, less than the knee of the gunner painted next to it, in fact, it was the tiger squat cannon of later generations, "the weight is not more than forty catties, two people can take turns to carry it, or use horses and camels, and one can carry at least two guns." ”

"Two doors for one." Guo Kui's eyes lit up, he thought about it for a while, and asked Han Gang, "Is it enough for Yiwu to take care of one door?" ”

"That's enough."

One army is five people, but due to the empty salary, there are basically four people, and four people take care of a tiger squat cannon, which is more than enough.

"How does it compare to a crossbow? How far can the shell reach. ”

"If the tiger squat cannon uses cannonballs, it should be able to reach a hundred paces. However, instead of shells, shotguns of lead are generally used. Within ten steps, it can be compared to ten crossbows. Re-firing will also not be slower than a crossbow. Han Gang saw Guo Kui frowning, knowing that he had never seen a shotgun, so he asked someone to bring a plate of lead over, and said, "Later, please ask the captain to take a look, and you will know the power of this lead." ”

Guo Kui grabbed a few small projectiles, shook them, and knew that what Han Gang said was true. Thunderbolt artillery also has a similar cannon, which is thrown with a bag of stones in a cloth bag, and after landing, it can make the enemy soldiers within a dozen steps cry and cry for their mother.

"Why don't you build it first?" This tiger squat cannon looks very simple, it should be built first, and it should be equipped in large quantities in the army.

"This one has to be made of iron, not bronze. Copper is too expensive, it is made of iron, and it is not distressing if it is broken. ”

Such a light artillery only pursues close-range killing, and the gunpowder charge is small, and it is not afraid of exploding, so it should not matter if it is cast in iron. As for the field artillery, Han Gang is still not sure, and he has to use copper for the time being. Wait until the technique is passed, and then use cast iron.

Zhang Dian listened to the conversation between Han Gang and Guo Kui, which was mainly a tactical use, and he didn't bother to interject.

"Oh? How much does that field gun cost? ”

"It has always been 12 catties of small flat money, the barrel is 1,100 catties, and the materials consumed are only 100 catties, and even if there is some unevenness in the ingredients, it will not exceed 150 catties. The gun carriage was of iron and wood, and the material was up to fifty times. The rest is the cost of labor and manufacturing. ”

"That's not expensive!" Guo Kui was even a little surprised.

The material cost is only 200 times, plus the labor and production costs, can there be 1,000 times? It's a thousand runs, and it's really not a problem for Da Song. Beginning this year, the military spending in the northwest will be greatly discounted, and it may be less than 10 million, but there will always be 5 or 6 million. How many artillery pieces can be made depends on whether the craftsmen can have time and how much copper can be squeezed out.

"It's not expensive."

The cost of making a gun, and the subsequent maintenance, was much cheaper than a bed crossbow. Replacing the bed crossbow is inevitable.

Cheap and easy to use, no one doesn't like such a weapon...... Except for the enemy.

Guo Kui's heart was surging for a while, and it was really an incomparable joy to ravage the enemy with advanced weapons.

"What's on the third picture?" Guo Kui was a little impatient.

"It's a city defense artillery." Han Gang showed it to Guo Kui.

The artillery on this picture, according to the comparison with the gunner, is larger than the field gun, and it looks very heavy. The environment of the artillery was indoors, and the fire was fired through small windows.

Looking at the attached map below the main picture, the city defense artillery is not installed on the top of the city wall, but several fortresses protruding outward from the outer wall of the city wall, and the artillery is located in the fortress, which is arranged in three layers. The lowest floor is close to the ground, and the highest floor is only slightly lower than the top of the wall.

"This is the artillery used to defend the city. You don't have to act with the army, so you can be a little heavier, and the power and range are more than that of field artillery, which is just right to restrain you. In the future, even if the Liao thieves secretly learned artillery, they don't have to be afraid that they can attack the city. ”

Guo Kui glanced at Han Gang coldly.

This is similar to the palace deceiving the Empress Taishang and laymen like Cai Qu. At the height of the city, even ordinary field guns can have more range than the enemy. Moreover, with the level of craftsmen of the Liao State and the artillery of the same shape, it would be good to have the level of the Great Song Dynasty. The so-called restraint of field artillery is nothing more than reassuring people's hearts.

"You can sit back and relax in Tokyo Castle and the Daimyo Mansion with dozens of gates, right?" He asked with a sneer.

Han Gang and Zhang Dian exchanged a look, and sure enough, they couldn't hide it from the Fang family.

"And that's not all." Han Gang said.

"Of course." Guo Kui said, "How can this be limited to defending the city, but should be placed in the walled fort that is built." ”

"As long as it is properly arranged, the artillery and ammunition are fine, and ten times as many thieves don't want to attack it."

Guo Kui nodded smugly. Then he asked: "There are more than ten catties of shells that flew to Han's house just now, right?" ”

"About eleven pounds. The diameter is four inches. ”

"What is the maximum size of this city defense artillery, eight inches and one foot?" Guo Kui asked Han Gang.

Han Gang frowned: "If you have an eight-inch caliber, the shells will be about to cost a hundred catties." ”

More than ten catties can demolish the house, and a hundred catties can probably demolish the city.

A round cannonball with a diameter of four inches is about 11 catties, and 100 catties is nine times. With the same texture, the weight is proportional to the cube of the radius. To put it simply, double the radius of the shell a little more. A shell about eight inches in its early age is almost a hundred pounds.

"How can it be so heavy?" "Can a hundred-pound cannon be made?"

Zhang Dian and Guo Kui asked at the same time.

"It's that heavy, indeed. It's easy to build. ”

Later generations had fifteen-inch and sixteen-inch heavy artillery. But the unit of length used for artillery at that time was certainly not the same as the inch of this era. And that's the main gun of a battleship, where can it be done in this era?

And there are really not many places where super-heavy artillery can be used, four-inch guns can follow the army, but what about eight-inch guns? It's really too exaggerated, and I don't know how many times the weight of the gun will be enough. It was obvious that he could not move with the army on the road, even when he was loading by ship or defending the city.

If you are on a ship, a hundred pounds of shells will make the crew crazy, how many can hold it? However, if you want to install a pulley block in the cabin, the board may not be able to withstand it for a long time.

But there is still a way, there is a possibility in Han Gang's memory that it is a mortar specially used for siege, the caliber is very large, the cannon body is very short, the firing angle of the cannonball is a large arc, the standard curved cannon, the heavy cannonball can be easily launched, but the range is relatively short.

This is Han Gang's fourth picture.