On the second day of August in the first year of the Apocalypse, Xiong Yanbi recovered, ascended to the imperial history of the right capital, sealed the prince Shaobao, gave Shang Fang a sword and a unicorn suit, and brought 1.2 million yuan of silver, and inspected the nine sides on behalf of the Son of Heaven, accompanied by 2,000 soldiers.

Xiong Yanbi began to inspect the border town under the escort of 2,000 soldiers of the Beijing battalion under the high hopes of Zhu Youxiao. Zhu Youxiao sent Xiong Yanbi to the suburbs, and then went directly to the Royal Military Factory for an inspection.

As reported in the Daming Daily, the Royal Military Factory had produced steel-cast cannons, which were practically similar in performance to the bronze cannons of the nineteenth century.

The 'Royal Iron Works' established in Cizhou had already produced the first batch of steel, because the molten steel could be obtained directly, so the proportion of steel elements could be easily controlled, so that mild steel could be used to cast artillery, and the steel cannons were directly poured through the guò casting method.

The first steel-cast cannon shell weighed 3 catties (1800 grams, 600 grams a catty in the Ming Dynasty), the barrel was 0.7 meters long, the caliber was 83mm, and the weight was very light, only 90 kilograms. Including the gun carriage, the weight is only 150 kg.

When Zhu Youxiao came to the Royal Military Factory, the gunsmiths were conducting in-depth tests on the performance of the artillery.

"Has the performance been tested?" After Zhu Youxiao came to the military factory, he asked the craftsman in charge of the test.

"After preliminary testing, this cannon fires live ammunition, with an effective range of up to one mile (500 meters) and scattered shells up to 230 paces (380 meters)." The craftsman replied.

"Okay, that's a good shot." Zhu Youxiao praised excitedly. Although the performance seems to be far worse than that of later artillery, such artillery is definitely very advanced in this era.

In these years, iron-cast cannons were all advanced technology, and only the British, Dutch, and Spanish mastered them, and at the same time, the Royal Military Factory also developed iron-cast cannons.

By this time, the Royal Military Factory had already made steel cannons, and the quality of mild steel was much better than that of cast iron, which in turn reduced its weight.

This kind of 3-pound cannon is equivalent to the 4-pounder gun of the Europeans at this time, and the level of artillery in these years is carried out by the weight of the projectile.

At this time, the Royal Military Factory developed artillery, and it was in accordance with the requirements of Zhu Youxiao that the artillery was graded. It is divided into five grades: 1 catty cannon, 3 catty cannon, 10 jin cannon, 15 jin cannon, and 20 jin cannon.

The 3-kilogram gun developed this time, because it is required to be used in field battles and reduce weight as much as possible, has a relatively short barrel, which in turn causes the firing range to be relatively short, only 500 meters of effective range, and 380 meters of scattered range.

If the barrel is extended, then the range will be increased a lot. Because gunpowder only causes the force that pushes the shell out of the barrel, the longer the barrel, the longer the acceleration, and the range and accuracy will be relatively improved.

Therefore, with the same dosage, as long as the barrel is extended, the firing range can be increased.

"Your Majesty, our craftsmen are now developing the method of making muskets to make cannons, and the barrels have already been made." Yang Qianshan reported on the side.

"Forging?" Zhu Youxiao came to the spirit, and hurriedly said to Yang Qianshan: "Take me to have a look." ”

"Your Majesty, go this way." Yang Qianshan hurriedly led the way, and soon took Zhu Youxiao to a workshop, only to see the craftsmen clanging and knocking.

In between, the craftsmen had already made several disassembled barrels, which were completely forged like muskets, but of a small caliber.

"Your Majesty, this is the barrel of a catty cannon, these sections can be connected as long as they are connected, but no matter how big it is, there is no way, it can only be cast."

"It's not bad, either." Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, this forging method is a higher technology than clay mold casting cannons, but the larger the artillery, it means that water conservancy machinery is required to obtain a steam engine or something to be competent, and human forging can only forge small artillery, and it seems to be quite labor-intensive and time-consuming.

Although the projectile of a pound gun is relatively light, if the barrel is longer, the range and power are still good, and these light-weight guns are most suitable for field combat.

It is clearly time to train specialized field artillery.

Zhu Youxiao then carefully inspected the three-pound cannon that had been manufactured, and found that the firing was rather cumbersome, but if he was skilled, it would be no problem to shoot a shell in 30 seconds, after all, the artillery was large and could be operated by several artillerymen.

Such a rate of fire is already very satisfactory in this era.

After Zhu Youxiao looked at the gun carriage equipped by the craftsmen for the three-jin gun, he felt that there was still room for improvement, so he said to Yang Qianshan: "In the artillery research project, the research and development of the gun carriage is also added, and the gun carriage is made as light as possible, but it does not affect the performance of the artillery." ”

"The slave obeys." Yang Qianshan hurriedly wrote it down, this can't be forgotten.

"Let's build it to this specification for the time being! This kind of three-pound cannon will be built with 500 guns first. After thinking about it, Zhu Youxiao decided that the Ming army must have a huge demand for this kind of field artillery.

This thing is used to deal with wild boar skin, and it is definitely a great weapon.

The range of one kilometer of live ammunition is indeed lethal to fortifications, but it is not too practical to deal with wild boar skin. However, shotshots are a powerful weapon against wild boar skins! With a range of 380 meters, hundreds of scattered bullets can be fired with one shot, and as long as you set up a formation in the field, you can bombard the wild boar skin.

And this cannon is really light, and a horse can run around with it. After all, he is only 150 kilograms, which is about the same as a fatter adult man. If it's two horses, it's even easier. Artillery, even if it weighs several thousand kilograms, can be pulled by horses, but it takes a dozen horses together.

However, a few thousand kilograms of artillery were not suitable for use as field artillery in this era. Because of performance problems, thousands of kilograms of artillery are not as cost-effective as the guns during the First World War because the range and power are not as good as those of the First World War. Unlike the heavy artillery of the First World War, despite its heavy weight, it is also very powerful and has a very strong range, and it is worth tossing.

However, in those years, because there were no machine guns, trenches, and no rifles with a range of thousands of meters, the army fought in dense formations. Therefore, although the performance of the artillery seems backward, the effect is actually similar to that after the appearance of trench warfare in the First World War.

Although the artillery during the First World War was powerful and long-range, it was a skirmish tactic used by people, and there were trenches to hide, so it was very good to be able to kill one in one shot. And the artillery of this era is placed in front of the battle, and a single shot may be able to kill more than a dozen people.

The performance number does not explain anything, the essence is that one step ahead is an artifact, and one step behind is shit. PS: The second update is here!