【First Update】

Eighteen guns spewed flames.

When one cannon has just roared, the next one is followed. It's like a rare summer thunderstorm that keeps shaking your ears.

Even if these small cannons are placed, they are less than the height of Wang Juqing's knees. But the roar in his ears, which had lasted for half an hour, still made him feel shaken.

Shotguns loaded with a dozen leads, shotguns made of iron sand, individual iron balls, and even the simplest stones, were loaded into the muzzle, pressed against the medicine bag through a cotton paper tray, and then ignited and fired.

The newly replaced target has changed from a smooth piece to a piece of pockmarks in a blink of an eye. Under the bombardment of the one-headed iron ball, the wood chips on the target flew sideways, and a few pieces were hit by the edges or corners, and there was an extra gap when landing.

Every fifth soldier controls a tiger squat cannon, and its advance and retreat are all systematic and orderly. There is no difference in the loading and firing techniques of each gun group, and the speed is almost the same, and it is clear that it has undergone some rigorous training.

The artillery crew of the eighteen guns added up to only 100 people, but the width of the artillery array was more than 70 zhang, nearly 150 paces. According to the standards of the infantry army, it is a little sparse, and with such a loose array, what cavalry can pass through such a defensive line?

Wang Juqing had seen the firing of artillery, but he had never seen so many artillery firing at the same time. The results of today's experiments fell into his eyes, and he was stunned by the power of the artillery that had been assembled into an army.

After a break in the experiment, he asked Han Gang, who had a lot of military experience, for advice.

"As long as the artillery can still fire. As long as the cavalry is still flesh and blood, it is impossible to pass through. Han Gang said with great confidence.

"I can't get through any of them." Fang Xing also repeated the emphasis on the Tao.

"It's a pity that there are only ten at most one conductor." Wang Juqing knew that the artillery establishment in the predetermined establishment of Lu Dao was equipped with two guns for every 100 people, and one commander was five, which was only ten, "It is not enough at all." ”

"The commander will also have six cannons in his hand, plus a divine arm bow in his hand, which is enough to deal with any enemy."

"How many people are there in one conductor like this?" Wang Juqing asked.

Even the elite commanders in the Western Army can only be counted according to eighty percent of the military register. Each of them actually had only seventy or eighty men, and with two artillery pieces, it was one eighth less footmen. In the hands of the commander, he also has one or two teams in his hands, acting as guards and conveying orders. If the commander had six more artillery pieces in his hand, where would the three teams of thirty men come from?

Not to mention the ordinary commanders who eat half of their salaries, and they can't even find enough people to use artillery.

"Of course it's a full number, a little more than five hundred...... In a few days, I will discuss it with Zhang Zihou. ”

"Full of numbers? More than five hundred? "Wang Juqing knows the situation in the army too well, he has been in charge of repairing embankments and water conservancy, and has dealt with the forbidden army and the box army. This is a posture to make a major change in the establishment of the army.

Han Gang didn't mind explaining a little more to Wang Juqing: "Shou Ming doesn't know that the first army in Beijing to be equipped with artillery is only the Shenji Army and the Fourth Army. The food and clothing of the Shenji Army are arranged according to the four armies, and there is no need to eat empty salaries on both sides. As for the infantry commanders who were the first to be equipped with tiger squat cannons in other places, Hedong and Hebei, which had just experienced a major war, had several teams that could handle it. And Kansai, if you want to come to Shouming, you also know the way, and you don't need to worry about empty salary. ”

Because the Fourth Army had to move around in front of the Son of Heaven and often proofread, it could be seen at a glance if there were fewer people, and the situation of vacancies was better than that of the Western Army.

The Western Army was about to lay out some of its soldiers, and to a large extent, it was also trying to squeeze out the water and remove the soldiers who only existed in the military register. In order not to reduce the actual combat power too much, the commanders who have been squeezed through the water will be merged and become a real full-fledged commander.

However, the number of such commanders is not large, and eating empty quotas has long formed a huge interest group in the Western Army, which cannot be reversed for a while, and now it is also being reorganized in the name of disarmament. Han Gang hoped that he would be able to form a full infantry army of 30 to 50 in the future, as an army equipped with firearms in the early stage, and the military salaries allocated to them would also be raised to the level of the upper forbidden army, or even close to the level of the upper fourth army.

The reason why Han Gang dared to let Huang Sheng go to the southwest was precisely because once he began to pacify the disobedient Southwest Yi, he would transfer three or four new-style forbidden troops under command from Kansai as the core main force. The combat effectiveness of the Western Army, coupled with the light artillery, is like a tiger with wings, and the grasp of dealing with the Yiren has increased even more.

Fang Xing was just listening, these things had nothing to do with him. However, Wang Juqing had the opportunity to enter the Xifu to serve, and the privy envoys and deputy envoys did not dare to think about it, and the Privy Council and the Privy Council all promised that there were opportunities and did not miss the opportunity to contact more high-end information, "Beijing, Guanxi, Hedong, Hebei." In this way, the number of Tiger Squat Cannons will not be too small. ”

"The Warden of Ordnance has not received a letter from the Privy Council?" Han Gang asked rhetorically.

"Not yet."

"Why is it so rubbing?" Han Gang shook his head and revealed to Wang Juqing, "It has been decided a few days ago, and the Tiger Squat Cannon will build at least a thousand by the end of the year, and the more the better." The production of gunpowder and shells should also be stepped up. ”

"That's right, Xia Guan understands." Wang Juqing asked Fang Xing: "A thousand tiger squatting cannons, is the Firearms Bureau manpower enough?" ”

"Rest assured, there is enough time and there will be no mistakes."

Since Wang Juqing took office, he has only come to the Firearms Bureau once, and Han Gang specially brought Wang Juqing over, precisely because he didn't want the Firearms Bureau to wander away from the Ordnance Prison, and also asked Wang Juqing not to have too many scruples, Fang Xing also understood this.

"So sure?"

Wang Juqing knew that Fang Xing didn't dare to brag in front of Han Gang, but he just wanted to know the reason why Lu Dao was so efficient - the details of the firearms bureau, he didn't inquire more, but the number of personnel, he, the judge of the weapons superintendent, was still clear.

"Now the game is using iron fan to cast cannons, which is much faster than clay fan, and there is a lot less labor to remold."

"Iron Fan Cast Cannon?"

Wang Juqing had never heard of this statement, but he could understand the meaning, but after understanding, he was even more confused. I only heard Fang Xing say, "The clay mold will be destroyed once when used, but the iron mold does not have so many problems." Wang Juqing immediately asked: "Both sides are iron, won't they melt together?" ”

"No, it won't." Fang Xing said, "The iron fan is coated with a layer of heat-insulating mortar, and after the molten iron is poured into it, it will not melt together. And there is a benefit to the artillery made of iron fan. ”

"What?"

"It's just the same size, and there is no trachoma!"

At this time, the smoke on the artillery position had dissipated, and Fang Xing led Han Gang and Wang Juqing forward, and eighteen tiger squatting cannons checked the past one by one.

"These tiger squat cannons are all cast in a mold." Fang Xing explained to the two top bosses, and asked the gunner to pick up the cannon in thirty or forty catties.

The tiger squat cannon is really not heavy, and it is loaded with a wooden frame and carried on its back, so it will not be too much of a hindrance when walking. If you are traveling long distances, you can use one wheelbarrow on one side, or you can simply put it on the animal, and two on one side, which adds up to the weight of a fat man, and it is not difficult for one person to hold it.

Fang Xing asked Han Gang and Wang Juqing to take a closer look, "Please take a look at the political participation and prison sentence, there is no need to grind much in the barrel, it is as smooth as a mirror." ”

The color of the tiger squat cannon is dark and gloomy, and although the barrel of the cannon is full of dust, it becomes very smooth after rubbing it a few times with a long pole brush. It can't be said to be like a mirror, but it's almost the same as the surface of a sword or plate armor.

Wang Juqing checked the door very carefully, and the size was indeed the same - it was originally a mold, and from a close distance, the workmanship was also very meticulous. I just don't know if this is deliberately taken out to see, or if the mass production can still guarantee the current level in the future.

However, Wang Juqing will not say this thought, what he says is praise. After a long compliment, he asked Fang Xing, "Is the Tiefan Cast Cannon a long time coming, or is it a recent invention?" ”

"It was invented by a craftsman in the Ordnance Prison, surnamed Xu Mingliang. This Xu Liang was originally a craftsman who made plate armor, and was later transferred to make iron pots. The iron caster was invented when he was making iron pots. ”

"Iron pot?" Wang Juqing listened to the flute, these two are inevitably too far apart.

Fang Xing nodded and smiled: "It is precisely for the purpose of making iron pots that there is the invention of Tiefan." ”

"If Juqing remembers correctly, the plate armor is forged, and it should be forged to make an iron pot, how to change the casting pot." Wang Juqing turned his head and said to Han Gang.

"Isn't that impossible?" Han Gang sighed helplessly, "At that time, there were not so many craftsmen in the ordnance prison, and they couldn't be fired, so the Liao people took advantage of it, so they could only bite the bullet." Whether it's forging or casting, it's actually pretty much the same. ”

After the invention of the horse chopper and plate armor, it only took more than three years to complete the replacement of all the 600,000 forbidden troops, and then only the damaged armor needs to be replaced normally, and there is no need to build 200,000 sets a year. In order to give the remaining production capacity a place to go, Han Gang's advice is to convert the military to the civilian population, and pull the craftsmen who make military products to make civilian equipment, so that the people of the world can use cheap iron products, and they can also continue to expand the scale of the Jingzhong Iron Yard.

But such a change of production is always indispensable, and there are always some ironic things. Although it is not as suitable as a craftsman who makes a horse knife to make a kitchen knife, it is better than the craftsman who originally made leather armor to sew leather jackets in the army.

"And they're doing a good job. Not to mention the casting pot, the six-eared iron pots used in the army and the kitchens in the yamen range from twenty or thirty catties to more than one hundred catties. There are also amphorae cast iron rice pots with an inner diameter of less than one foot, and even the cast iron used for the lid, which is better for cooking soup and cooking than in the past. And there is a pure forging out of the iron pot, only a few minutes thick, tough and lightweight, you can pick it up with one hand, the most suitable for stir-frying, now the outside of the hotel, stir-fry is getting better and better because of this wrought iron pot. ”