CHAPTER XXXI

Bi Fangji was ecstatic, pulling Tang Ruowang to look around, seeing him caressing those statues affectionately with his hand, Yang Bo smiled, and turned his face to Lu Ruohan, who was sitting on the bench.

"Mr. Lu, do you think I can keep Mr. John Tang?" Yang Bo asked

Lu Ruohan shrugged his shoulders: "I don't think there is a problem, when Mr. Tang Ruowang saw those buildings on the street, he was already moved, yes, I promise, if the adults can provide him with a suitable career here." ”

"So, Mr. Lu, what about you?" Yang Bo changed his words

"Me?" Lu Ruohan pondered for a moment and slowly shook his head

"To tell you the truth, when I first arrived, I did have a little bit of a heart, but I was different from them"

Lu Ruohan said to Bi Fangji and them: "Even if you give them a church in the wilderness, they will stay"

"What do you want?" Yang Bo interrupted him and asked directly.

Lu Ruohan was not quite accustomed to Yang Bo's straightforward way of talking, and after thinking about it, he said: "I used to preach in Yueben, but unfortunately I am not suitable for preaching, I came to Daming in the forty-third year of Wanli, here, I got acquainted with Lord Xu Guangqi, my major is machinery and artillery, except for these two, I have no interest in other things......

“…… What surprised me was that Lord Xu Guangqi's understanding of artillery was not below me, and during that time we often talked all night to discuss various methods of artillery defense and breaking the enemy. ”

Yang Bo laughed when he heard this, Bi Fangji turned his head suspiciously, and Yang Bo waved his hand at them

"In fact, many people were like adults back then, full of ridicule and ridicule for my suggestions, I think, I'm used to it" Lu Ruohan shook his head, not caring.

"No, no, you're misunderstanding......"

Yang Bo hurriedly explained, this is the future god of artillery? He couldn't let go

"Mr. Lu Ruohan, I don't mean to laugh, but I don't understand, the artillery is very powerful, for example, the Hongyi cannon weighs thousands of catties, do you know how much animal power is required to transport? How many wagons and horses do you need to transport shells, and how much rice and grain do people consume along the way to eat and chew horses? This is still a single red-coat cannon, if you add other medium-sized Shenwei cannons, bronze cannons, Furlong machine guns, tiger squat cannons, etc., how do you solve the problems of transportation, logistics, troops, gunner configuration, etc., don't you think about these problems? ”

"My lord is afraid that I am just talking on paper, another Zhao Kuo and the like, right? In fact, I said it a little simpler, I have already covered these problems in the previous book, the selection and training of thousands of large and small birds, everyone must be able to play the bird, the red-coated cannon is abandoned, only the medium Shenwei cannon is used, etc., the gun carriage is modified, and the frame is replaced with a ......" Lu Ruohan saw that Yang Bo was familiar with artillery, and immediately became interested, and talked endlessly about how to arrange troops and how to use artillery reasonably.

The more Yang Bo listened, the more surprised he became, and finally he could barely close his mouth, Lu Ruohan's use of artillery in military defense and siege configuration, the rational allocation and division of labor of guns and guns, even if he looked at it from the perspective of later generations, it was also very accurate, this is a talent?

Yang Bo had secretly made up his mind that he would leave Lu Ruohan behind even if he was kidnapping, and he would never let him go back.

"Mr. Lu, do you really want to stay?" Yang Bo asked pitifully

Lu Ruohan shook his head and said a little gloomily: "Back then, under the arrangement of Lord Xu Guangqi, I came to Dengzhou with Mr. Lao of Gongsha to assist Sun Yuanhua in the training of large artificial artillery, and later there were fifty-three Fran mechanics and gunners to escort a batch of Western artillery from Guangzhou to Dengzhou, with the efforts of me and Gongsha's labor, most of them stayed, and with our efforts, Dengzhou once became the largest and most advanced firearms casting and training center in the Ming Dynasty and even in Asia......

“…… But now? Lord Xu Guangqi is dead, Lord Sun Yuanhua is dead, Dengzhou is barren, many of my colleagues are dead, scattered, all our efforts have disappeared, all our careers have been in vain, here, what else can I be nostalgic for? ”

Yang Bo nodded and asked with some sympathy, "So, what is Mr. Lu's plan?" ”

"I'm going to go to North Korea to have a look, when I was in Dengzhou, I had some friendship with the North Korean envoy Zheng Douyuan, and I also gave them some clairvoyance, western mirrors and translated science and technology books, of course, it may not be suitable for me, I just have a glimmer of hope to see, if I am not satisfied, I think, it is time for me to go home" Lu Ruohan shook his head and sighed, a man in his fifties, his back was already slightly rickety.

Yang Bo pouted secretly, what kind of eyes are these, why are you going to North Korea, where birds don't lay eggs?

"In my opinion"

Yang Bo suddenly stood up and paced in front of Lu Ruohan: "Dengzhou's artillery casting is just an inferior handicraft workshop."

Yang Bo knew that if he wanted to leave Lu Ruohan behind, he could only attack Dengzhou, which he regarded as glory, and elevate himself in order to arouse his interest.

Sure enough, Lu Ruohan raised his head and looked at Yang Bo in surprise, he didn't react for a while.

"Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, only the artillery workshop of our Fort Weiwu is the most advanced, the most... Hmm, the most, well, the most advanced" Even if Yang Bo is thick-skinned, he doesn't know how to put gold on his face for a while.

"Really?" Out of politeness, Lu Ruohan resisted the urge to beat Yang Bo

"When you are still using clay to cast cannons, we are already using the iron mold pouring method, our gunners are proficient in mathematics, our artillery uses crosshairs and sights, we use standard barrels, every projectile can be universal, we have developed a flowering shell, although for the time being can only be used on mortars, our artillery is not only used in defense, but also used in large-scale battles, back then, we said that we broke through the chessboard four villages, relying on the power of artillery, our smoothbore artillery battalion of 800 people broke more than 10,000 smelling incense teaching, Relying on the power of artillery, we also equip the artillery on the ship and install it on the sea base, when it comes to the understanding of artillery, looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, who else is deeper than our Maojiatun? Well, although, although our artisan battalion has just started, the scale is still relatively small......" Yang Bo looked at Lu Ruohan with a smile after speaking, he knew that it was enough to talk about this

"What are you waiting for?" Lu Ruohan got up violently, grabbed Yang Bo and ran

"Master Bi, I'll pick you up in the evening......" Yang Bo shouted to Bi Fangji as he ran.

The artillery training ground at Fort Wywood was set up in a separate wilderness, and the area within a radius of one mile was fenced, and ordinary people were absolutely not allowed to enter or leave at will.

Rows of barracks were also built here to house the soldiers of the smoothbore artillery battalion, Yang Bo called the stewards of the craftsman battalion, and even Liu Lao Donkey of the Weapons Division also called out, and a group of people came to the training ground in a mighty way.

Huang Erman, the commander of the smoothbore artillery battalion, was arranging no-bullet training, and although the artillery battalion had a separate powder magazine with sufficient ammunition reserves, Erman was still reluctant to train with live ammunition because gunpowder was too expensive.

Seeing Yang Bo coming, Huang Erman didn't dare to slack off, beckoned the soldiers to line up, and he greeted him with instructor Lin Dacheng and military discipline officer Wu Kui in front of the team.

Lu Ruohan didn't care about being polite, he was already attracted by the rows of mortars on the training ground, he ran to the mortars to touch here and there, patting there, his face was full of concentration, this is an expression that can only be revealed on the face of a person who does practical things, Yang Bo nodded secretly, and valued Lu Ruohan in his heart.

"How do these mortars move?" Lu Ruohan asked Huang Erman unceremoniously

Huang Erman didn't know where Lu Ruohan came from, and looked at Yang Bo before returning: "Back to my lord, I said that these mortars are fixed with a base, and these artillery mounts are detachable, and the mortars can be carried away by two people." ”

"Every cannon is the same?" Lu Ruohan felt a little incredible, even though he could see that it was like this.

"There is an error, but it is controlled within a certain range" Chen Jianghu nodded, his face full of pride.

Lu Ruohan nodded, and ran forward to move the elevation angle of the mortar cannon and observe the bullet point.

"Mr. Lu Ruohan, why don't we play a round with live ammunition?" Yang Bo is easy to reach

Lu Ruohan didn't answer, he suddenly ran to the position of one hundred and twenty steps in front of the mortar cannon, pointed to the ground and shouted, "Can you hit here?" ”

Huang Erman nodded lightly at Yang Bo, and Yang Bo smiled: "Okay, set up the target, Erman"

A few soldiers came out of the line and inserted pieces of wood in the place where Lu Ruohan pointed, Lu Ruohan ran back and asked slightly out of breath: "Is this what the adults say?" How do those gunners adjust the elevation angle? ”

Yang Bo was asked, and said in a daze: "Generally, it is adjusted according to experienced gunners."

Seeing Lu Ruohan shaking his head, instructor Lin Dacheng suddenly said: "My lord, the gunner doesn't need experience to adjust the elevation angle, we have carved a line on the base, hit fifty steps to adjust to the first scale, hit eighty steps, and hit one hundred steps have corresponding scales."

"Oh?"

Lu Ruohan was a little surprised, but Yang Bo was overjoyed when he heard this, "Who came up with the method, and did you reward him?" ”

Lin Dacheng replied: "My lord, in the first battle of Jiacang Town, the smoothbore artillery battalion killed and injured his brother, and after we came back, we held a summary meeting, and regarded this infantry artillery coordination as the first difficulty to be overcome, but there has been no very good solution, and later, Mr. Fernández came to the smoothbore artillery battalion as an instructor, and it was he who proposed this solution, but our application for merit has not been sent, and Mr. Fernández was transferred. ”

"Fernandez? He's an instructor with you?" Lu Ruohan shouted.

"yes"

Yang Bo nodded proudly: "Mr. Lu Ruohan knows him?" ”

"I don't know him, this coward, this scoundrel, this deserter without morality"

Lu Ruohan gritted his teeth and asked, "Where is he now?" ”

"Well, I'm very sorry, he's on a small island right now, enjoying the sun, the food and the life of exile, you won't be able to see him in a short time," Yang Bo quickly replied.

Yang Bo secretly said in his heart that it was not good, this Lu Ruohan looked at Fernandez as if he didn't share the sky, could it be that Fernandez stole Lu Ruohan's wife? As soon as these two people meet, won't there be a duel to the death? After that, it's better not to let the two meet.

In order to divert Lu Ruohan's attention, Yang Bo said to Huang Erman: "Let's start"

Huang Erman nodded: "Order!" ”

A platoon of soldiers ran to their gun emplacements, and they divided into groups of three, one took a hammer and struck down the fixed tether of the mortar chassis, and the other took a wool roller and cleaned the inner chamber, although the inner diameter was already smooth and black, and one took a bag of gunpowder, carefully poured it in, and gently compacted it with a stick wrapped in cotton cloth.

Lu Ruohan seemed to have something to say when he saw this, but he still held back, Yang Bo, who had been secretly observing him, knew his question, Mao Jiatun used granular gunpowder, and there was no need to leave a gap for gunpowder.

A soldier carefully took out the iron shell bullet, inserted the delayed fuse into it, wrapped the iron shell bullet with a powder bag, carefully put the fuse outward into the barrel, grabbed a handful of cork chips and filled it around the iron shell, and the other two had already installed the primer and fuse, and finally, a soldier carefully checked the trajectory and elevation angle, took the arquebus handed by others and stood by.

"Please give the order!" Huang Erman ran over

"Ignition!" Yang Bo was also not polite.

A puff of white smoke came out of the mortar position, and after a few seconds, a violent explosion suddenly sounded in the chamber of the mortar gun, and more than a dozen iron balls visible to the naked eye rose into the air and swooped towards the target group in the distance.

Boom, boom, boom

Just after the iron bullet hit a few targets, Lu Ruohan thought that this was the end, the iron bullet detonated, and countless smoke suddenly rose into the air in the target group. By the time Lu Ruohan looked intently, many targets had already fallen, leaving only a few lonely planks standing there.

The black powder is not very powerful, and in order to ensure the lethal effect of the flowering bullet, Yang Bo filled most of the iron shell bullets with compacted granular gunpowder, so that there were relatively few irons, and only a dozen were put in.

For the sake of safety, two soldiers carrying full-body shields stepped forward to inspect the shelling site, and only after making sure that there were no unexploded flowering shells did they let Yang Bo and others come forward to check.

Lu Ruohan carefully checked the target, most of the fallen were blown down by gunpowder, and the target that was erected left dense holes, these were left by the iron through, it is conceivable that if the iron with a diameter of about two and a half centimeters hits the **, if it does not die, it will be crippled, but I am afraid that I will not survive a few in the end.

Fifteen mortar cannons covered a team of more than 100 people, if the team was tightly arranged, more than half of this team of 100 people would be killed or injured on the spot, Lu Ruohan couldn't help but gasp when he thought of this.

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