Outside Hanyang Castle, at the foot of Turtle Mountain.

Spring ploughing is still far away, the land is frozen hard, and there are no crops, which can be used to test the cannon.

In a wilderness near the Yangtze River at the eastern foot of Guishan Mountain, a group of people were talking in a low voice around a cannon, including workers in arsenal coats and officers in full uniform, Zhao Bei was among the group of officers, and his guards were still surrounded by him.

Liu Qingen, the supervisor of the Hanyang Arsenal, and Shen Fengming, the general office, were working around the cannon with a few workers.

The cannon is also very chic, compared with other cannons, its body is too thin, the structure is also very simple, almost a steel barrel and two steel frames, and an iron plate placed on the ground, the appearance of the ground is not good, not as high as the human shoulder, dull, not so much a cannon, but a pile of scrap steel waiting to be remelted.

Liu Qingen finally set up the cannon, then straightened up and nodded to Zhao Bei, who was standing behind.

Zhao Bei didn't say much nonsense, took everyone back more than ten steps, hid behind a chest wall, and then ordered: "Test the gun." ”

A volunteer walked up to the cannon and picked up an unpainted shell from the ammunition box, this shell was also different, there was no copper belt, and the shape was not a simple pointed barrel, but a strange appearance with a thick front and a thin back, and a few tail wings on the buttocks.

The volunteer glanced back, saw Liu Qingen nodded, then stuffed the shell through the muzzle of the cannon, held the first half of the cannonball with both hands, took a deep breath, and then let go of his hand, the cannonball slid to the bottom of the barrel under the action of gravity, and fell to the bottom of the barrel with a "bang" in a blink of an eye. The volunteers picked up the several-foot-long fiery rope from the ground, quickly ran to the sandbag bunker behind the gun, crawled down, and then pulled the fiery rope violently.

Almost at the same time, the cannon shook slightly, and a puff of gray smoke erupted from the muzzle, and with a muffled "boom", the shell flew out.

The crowd behind the breastwork held their breath and tried to look up at the sky, trying to see the trajectory of the cannonball, but most of them saw nothing, only a short time later, a cloud of smoke burst from the ground in the distance, and then the explosion was heard, and the crowd cheered.

"This cannon, it's done!" Several officers of the staff who had come to watch the cannon were elated, clapping their hands, and a few jumped up. Now the most lacking of the revolutionary army is the cannon, this kind of cannon has a simple structure, can be produced in large quantities in a short time, can greatly meet the needs of the revolutionary army for heavy weapons, although the range is not far, but it is better than the old breech gun.

"This cannon can be used in combat, and it's quite light compared to other cannons. The commander-in-chief has both civil and military skills, and Liu admires him. Liu Qingen said to Zhao Bei.

"Where, where. Carving insect skills, in front of Mr. Liu, I am a class with an axe. Zhao Bei said modestly, and he was a little proud in his heart. When the sketch of the cannon was handed over to Liu Qingen yesterday, this high-achieving student who graduated from Tokyo Imperial University majoring in mechanical engineering once scoffed at the cannon, believing that the structure of the cannon was too simple to be used in combat, and could only be used to release fireworks.

"Commander-in-Chief, give this cannon a name." It was proposed.

"I think, it's called 'Zhenhua Cannon'." A staff officer patted the horse.

"It's okay to call it 'Qing'en Cannon'." Not a single co-worker is left behind.

Zhao Bei smiled and picked up the command knife, wrote a few words on the ground, and said: "The cannon must have a cannon name." In my opinion, it's called a 'mortar'! Although the cannon has a short range, it fires extremely fast, and can hit the enemy without raising his head, which is a fitting name. ”

"Mortars, mortars. Sure enough, it's a good name! Liu Qingen repeated it several times, and immediately threw away all the names of the guns he had already thought of.

Mortars are actually not a new thing, as early as the era of black fire yao, there was a prototype of the mortar "mortar cannon", this kind of gun is light, but at the same time the firing range is also very limited, so when the breech gun technology developed, the mortar gun withdrew from the stage of war, until the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the warring parties in order to attack each other's close trenches, have modified their own cannons, mortars reappeared, but the mortar structure at that time was simple, the firing range was very close, and it did not enter the industrial manufacturing, It was much more primitive than the mortar tested by the Republican Army.

In fact, this cannon was designed by Zhao Bei according to the heavy mortars of later generations, originally he planned to reduce the caliber to less than 100 mm, but after consulting with Liu Qingen, it was decided to increase its caliber to 150 mm, the reason is very simple: the current arsenal is not full of raw materials, it is impossible to ensure that all the shells are loaded with fierce medicine, if it is loaded with black fire yao or nitrocellulose fire yao, then its explosive power will be reduced, in order to ensure sufficient lethality, it is necessary to increase the caliber of the cannon, In order to fill enough fire, in this way, although the mortar will become heavier, but at least it will not become a chicken rib weapon, of course, in addition to this, there is another reason, that is, there are only that caliber seamless steel pipes in the warehouse, those seamless steel pipes were originally the property of the Hankou Jiji Hydropower Company, high-quality British pressure-resistant steel pipes, because the water plant has not yet been completed, the steel pipes are temporarily stacked in the warehouse of the arsenal, as soon as the drawings of the mortar came out, Liu Qingen immediately remembered those steel pipes, took a ruler to measure, and then calculated the strength, It was just right for making a cannon barrel, so it was misappropriated without greeting.

However, the seamless steel pipe is not a special gun steel after all, and the pressure resistance is unsatisfactory, in order to prevent the bore pressure from being too high and exploding, the length of the gun barrel must be shortened, which directly affects the firing range.

This sample cannon was made yesterday by Liu Qingen and people who spent a day rushing out, only one was made, the barrel is made of seamless steel pipes in stock, the gun carriage is also made of high-quality steel, the base of the gun is cast with cast iron, and the shells are also cast from cast iron.

Liu Qingen ran back to the mortar, stood behind the cannon and personally operated the rope, cooperated with the workers, and fired nine cannons in a row in one minute, except for Zhao Bei, everyone was once again shocked by the powerful firepower, and this rate of fire was almost as fast as the latest tube retreat field artillery.

Zhao Bei was taken aback, for fear that the cannon would blow up and kill Liu Qingen, and it would be worth the loss. Hurriedly called someone to pull Liu Qingen back, blamed him, and immediately issued a strict order, Liu Qingen was not allowed to test the cannon in person in the future, otherwise, he would be dismissed from the supervision and driven out of the factory.

Liu Qingen smiled awkwardly and said, "When I saw the cannon, I was a little impulsive, which made the commander-in-chief worried." However, it seems to me that if a few more seals were added to the shells, the range would have increased a lot. ”

Zhao Bei nodded and said: "Yes, this cannonball should have been closed in the air, but I'm afraid there are no suitable materials at present." By the way, all those shells exploded, your process is well controlled, can you guarantee this level of craftsmanship in the future? ”

Liu Qingen thought for a while and said: "This batch of shells is a sample shell, using imported German mountain artillery fuses, inertial firing, we have lifted the insurance in advance, it is said that the insurance cannot be lifted in advance, and there are not many such fuses, only a few thousand, if you need to manufacture a large number of shells, I am afraid that at present, you can only use the simplest bump fuse, in that way, it is impossible to guarantee a high firing rate, especially on soft soil." In addition, this gun is indeed a bit heavier, if the production of Mengzha medicine can be guaranteed in the future, a medium-caliber mortar should still be designed, so that it can be equipped to the battalion. ”

"Yes, battalion-level firepower also needs to be strengthened. However, it is better to find a way to make an inertial fuse suitable for mortars as soon as possible, so that the shells that are finally fired out do not explode, which also has an impact on morale. Mr. Liu, I believe in your ability, and I will try my best to make it easier for you. Now, please go back to the factory as soon as possible to make this cannon, the revolutionary army's attack on Hankow is about to begin, and we need more cannons. ”

"Ask the commander-in-chief to determine the official model for the mortar, according to foreign practice, every standard weapon should have a model." Liu Qingen said.

"Let's call it the 'Type 1908 heavy mortar', and in the future, we will use the Gregorian calendar." Zhao Bei said. "In addition, the kind of grenade I designed was also named the '1908 Offensive Grenade'."

Leaving Guishan, Zhao Bei did not return to the headquarters, but went to the Yamen of the Hanyang Prefect, where several special guests were waiting for his summons.