The three warships, one large and two small, flared their sails from the right flank, as if they had sailed into the firing sea area in front of the crossbow platform.

With the flag firing order issued by the watchtower next to the crossbow platform, the three battleships quickly adjusted their orientation and aimed their side sides at the sea area of the shooting range - Yue Lengqiu found the benefits of the telescope, and through the telescope, he could even accurately receive the signal from ten miles away - in the field of vision visible through the telescope, the big ship was comparable to the Jinhai-class warship of the Huaidong Naval Division, and the telescope could only see the left wing of the battleship, and the gunwales above the water were nearly two zhang high, which was thicker than the ordinary Jinhai-class warship.

The large ship only sees the sail mast, but has no oars and other accessories, and does not have a tail cabin, and with the regulation of the large ship, it is known that this is the main warship that has abandoned the near-board combat and purely uses the fire crossbow to carry out long-range attacks.

The small ship is comparable to the current Jiyun-class warship of the Huaidong Naval Division, with a low bilge bottom, and the tail hatch structure is retained.

Following the instructions of the flag, the brass nail decks on the left side of the big ship were opened to both sides in a neat manner, revealing two layers of 30 firing ports on the entire side of the ship.

Immediately after, the black cast-iron crossbow chamber protruded from the firing port, like the eyes of the Grim Reaper. The lower level has the fewest firing ports, only twelve, but through the binoculars you can see that the most massive crossbow is protruding; The upper firing ports were doubled, and a total of eighteen crossbows protruded.

If the crossbow position on the right wing was also laid out in the same way, such a new-style warship would be equipped with sixty new-type ambush fire crossbows - Yue Lengqiu, who had seen the performance of the ambush fire crossbow on land, could also suppress his shock, and he couldn't help but gasp at this time.

Gunpowder and artillery technology have been developed for seven or eight years, but the large-scale sea and land test firing exercise has only taken two years, and the naval artillery tactics at sea are not yet mature, so the largest models of the new warships, which were first built at the end of last year and delivered for testing in April, are only two Jinhai-class.

After nearly half a year of sea trials, test launches, and tactical pondering, these two new-type Jinhai-class warships were officially incorporated into the Jinghai Division in early October. The two new-style Lin Zhengjun-class warships were also delayed until early August, and only after they were technically certain did they officially start construction at the Chongzhou Shipyard, and they could not be put on trial voyage until February next year at the earliest.

If the Northern Expedition wants to officially start before March next year, there will be less than a month left for the two Lin Zhengjun-class warships to conduct sea trials, after which they will be assigned to the Jinghai Division.

Initially, the military allocated 1 million silver dollars to build the first batch of new warships, but in the end it cost as much as 1.5 million silver dollars on two Jinhai-class capital warships and eight frigates. Counting the previous investment in the development of gunpowder and artillery, and large-scale land and sea exercises, after the construction of these two Jinhai-class warships, Huaidong has invested resources to fight another battle of Jingxiang.

Lin Jian has the memory of later generations, not that he is unaware of the advantages of gunpowder, but it takes too many resources to develop gunpowder from the category of alchemy to the stage of practical field artillery and naval artillery.

This was also a key factor in Lin Lian's failure to develop firearms at all in the early Huaidong Army; Immature gunpowder and artillery technology not only has a very limited advantage on the battlefield, but may also require the enemy to follow up and study related technologies in advance.

The luxury family was beaten like a lost dog in the later period, but the determination to follow up and study shipbuilding technology in the early stage was not weak; Yan Hu's shipyard in Tieshan was supplemented by luxury craftsmen, and he was able to build Jinhai-class warships.

In addition, the weapons used by the Huaidong Army on the battlefield, including heavy stone-throwing crossbows and scorpion crossbows, Yanhu can successfully imitate them afterwards as long as they have contact with them on the battlefield. It can be seen that although Yanhu is a wild and alien race, his pragmatic and solid learning ability is far beyond the reach of those scholars and officials in Jiangning City who regard themselves as high and despise miscellaneous craftsmen.

It can be said that Yanhu is only one step away from the Huaidong Army in the use of combat weapons.

It's just that this step is so far away at this time.

At this time, the support for the combat strength of the Huaidong Army was not a simple few new weapons, but a new industry and a new learning system that surpassed the old era.

In the old days, the iron work under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry in Jiangning did not produce more than 2 million catties of iron a year, and the output of the government-run iron works controlled by the Privy Council at this time was 30 times that of this amount. At this time, the total number of workers in the south around iron ore mining, smelting and casting has reached 120,000.

It can be said that iron smelting, together with the coal mining industry, which employs a total of 60,000 people, has formed the representative of heavy industry in the south.

Of course, this also depends on the consumption market of hundreds of millions of catties of iron formed by the south and foreign maritime trade every year.

Why did Lin Jian grit his teeth and support Lin Jingzhong to build the Jinchuan Iron Bridge?

After the Jinchuan Iron Bridge matures, it will stimulate the consumption of iron materials and promote the development of iron smelting and industry.

Nowadays, the annual output of hundreds of millions of catties of iron in the southern government and private iron yards seems to be a lot, which is very amazing, and it is almost unimaginable that it can be digested by relying on the traditional farming society; In fact, if thirty or fifty Jinchuan iron bridges can be built every year, this alone can consume hundreds of millions of catties of iron production.

All new industries are mutually supportive, and without the entire new industrial system, the current Huaidong Army cannot be supported.

Lin Jian announced the complete formula of gunpowder and the complete design drawings of artillery and new warships, and Yan Hu did not have the ability to install artillery on a large scale in the navy and army.

Although in the past two years, Yanhu has quickly recovered from the defeat of Jingxiang, and it can even be said that the armament is still in the rising period, but in fact, it is no longer possible to make up for the gap between him and the Huaidong army, which is almost an era.

In the past few years, the scale of the Jinghai division must have been controlled at 30,000 people, and there has been no large-scale development; On the surface, the scale of Yanhu's sailors in Dengzhou has also grown to 30,000 in recent years. However, the difference in strength between the two sailors cannot be measured by the number of people at all.

At present, in the shipyards of Chongzhou, Mingzhou, Quanzhou, Yizhou, Jiangning, Haizhou and other places, as long as Lin Jian orders to build warships, the old-style Jinhai-class and Lin Zhengjun-class warships can build 60 to 80 warships a year, and the scale of the sailors can be expanded to 200,000 or more in two years.

Lin Jian gave up the expansion of low-tech combat readiness and devoted a large amount of resources to the upgrading of new warships and artillery, which was also to stimulate the development of new schools and industries in addition to strategic upgrading.

The cost of the first two Jinhai-class warships was as high as 400,000 silver dollars each; Considering that the two Lin Zhengjun-class warships are both newly built, the budget allocated by Lin Jian is as high as one million silver dollars each-this is far more than the cost of the old Jinhai-class and Lin Zhengjun-class warships, but considering the cross-era strategic upgrade, such a price is still worth it.

The Jinhai-class warships, which have now been incorporated into the Jinghai Division, are each equipped with a total of 60 12-kilogram and 8-kilogram guns.

Naval guns require a long range, a low angle of fire, and strong destructive power against enemy targets; The 12-kilogram naval gun made by the Ordnance Supervision is the main gun of the Jinhai-class battleship, with a barrel length of nearly three meters and a weight of nearly 3,000 kilograms. Double the charge, you can shoot at a long target six miles away, but the risk of exploding the chamber increases dramatically; Shotshot shots can be used instead in near-board combat.

Although the Jinhai-class battleships were not covered with armor as a whole, the relatively weak points were covered with copper armor, and the masts were also made of fine iron, so that even if the hull was attacked by fire, it could be replaced with new sails and continue sailing—this was also the case, making the total weight of the Jinhai-class battleships equivalent to eighty percent of the fully loaded merchant ships of the same class, weighing 500 tons, and the full sail speed was about a quarter slower than that of the same unloaded sailing ships.

The frigate should ensure the ability to fight and sail quickly at the near board and on the side, and only carry 12 eight-pound guns.

Although the Lin Zhengjun-class battleships under construction in the Chongzhou shipyard have only 48 more guns than the Jinhai-class battleships, the guns are all one level higher, and the 12 24-kilogram heavy guns to be installed in the lower compartment are no less destructive than the heavy stone-throwing crossbows that fire 100-kilogram stone bullets at the coastal fortress within a range of 1,000 meters; Lin Zhengjun-class battleships, the overall firepower, is actually far above the Jinhai-class battleships.

Although the new warship formation with two Jinhai-class warships as the core is only 1,000 people, Lin Jian gave the establishment of the new town division, and appointed Yang Shi, the deputy commander of the Jinghai Division, to lead the new town division army, and Yang Shi was also responsible for preparing for the construction of the recruit command school in Haizhou; By the time the two Lin Zhengjun-class warships and the four new Jinhai-class warships are put into service next year, the newly formed town division will only have 6,000 soldiers, but it will definitely be the main town division of the Jinghai Sea Division in the future.

In comparison, the army is currently only forming two new crossbow battalions in the Denghai Town Division.

Each new crossbow battalion of the Denghai Town Division was equipped with a total of 60 four-pound guns of 12 catties, 8 catties, or even smaller.

In addition to the axle wheels used to erect its own guns, each gun is also equipped with a towing auxiliary vehicle. Artillery and tractor can be combined into four ** vehicles, because considering that there will be no gallop in artillery warfare, even if Huaidong's car-making skills are developed, towing heavy artillery in the field is still a problem, and the crossbow battalion is equipped with four to six horses for each artillery carriage according to the different gun weights.

Since the gun truck itself can only carry more than a dozen solid bullets and scattered bullets, it must also be specially equipped with an ammunition car group; In the end, an artillery crew was evenly divided, and it needed 10 to 12 horses and 15 soldiers, so as to keep up with the pace of the infantry advancing and fighting.

Even if the cost of making artillery and ammunition is excluded, the resources required for the establishment of a crossbow battalion are equivalent to that of a battalion of heavy armor; And the three cavalry divisions of the "Lu Zero One" only have three heavy armored cavalry battalions in total.

The heavy armored cavalry battalion can develop a great role in the battlefield assault, but as long as the Huaidong Army sees the generals of the crossbow battalion exercises, they all hope that they can have the same establishment under their banner.

The principle of the treacherous way of the soldiers boils down to one principle, that is, to concentrate and concentrate one's own striking power, so that the enemy's striking power is scattered and dispersed.

The twelve-pound cannon fires lead pellet shots, and one bullet can hold up to 200 lead pellets. Between two hundred and four hundred meters, a cone-shaped barrage was formed no less than a salvo of two hundred bows and crossbows. And even if two hundred bows and crossbows were fired in three volleys, the battle line would be spread out for sixty meters; And in a width of sixty meters, it is enough to put ten twelve-pound cannons.

Although the mobility of the artillery is relatively poor, with the tight defensive position of the Huaidong Army, even if it may not be able to have any advantage in the mobile war, in the positional war, it will gain a suppressive advantage over the Yanhu Cavalry Corps.

Lin Jian gave priority to the development of naval artillery, mainly with the help of new warships, to tear apart Yanhu's sea-locked defense line - in fact, in the later stage, Ma Bujun really needed artillery to strengthen its combat power, and could even consider dismantling the naval guns as field land artillery.

"The lowest layer is a twelve-pound crossbow," Lin Tie did not hold an identity, and personally introduced the configuration of the fire crossbow on the new warship to Yue Lengqiu, "The twelve-pound crossbow and crossbow body are cast in iron, weighing more than two thousand catties, and the backlash generated when launched is extremely powerful." If such heavy crossbows were deployed on the upper floor, several crossbows could be accidentally fired in unison, and the entire battleship could be overturned. At the beginning of the construction of the ship, it was necessary to consider carefully, so the heavy crossbow was placed on the lower level, and the eight-pound light crossbow was placed on the upper level. ”

Looking at Yue Lengqiu, who was shooting at the fire crossbow, he muttered in his heart: Can this still be called a crossbow?

At this time, in the firing area, the Jiyun-class frigate also opened its gun muzzle, and together with the Jinhai-class main battleship, with the artillery on one side to conceal the nearest target ship, with the flag order issued, a total of 42 guns on one side of the three new-style warships, quickly fired in turn, only to see the muzzle spew out of the fire of the white smoke, and soon the side sides were covered in the white smoke.

Due to the great distance, Yue Lengqiu and the others could clearly see the trajectory of the projectile in the air with a telescope on the crossbow viewing platform.

The closest target ship in the sea area of the range was about 500 meters away from the three warships.

The target ship is a two-masted fishing boat refit, although it is a fishing boat, but it can also withstand the wind and waves of the offshore sea, the hull is strong, and the non-inland lake and river ships can be compared, and some of the side sides are also covered with cowhide, which is basically imitated by Yan Hu's sailor warship in Dengzhou - Yue Lengqiu also thought at this time that in order to obtain accurate shooting data and more realistic shooting results, Huaidong also invested a lot of resources to build targets, right?

Under a dense attack by the naval guns, the target ship at the edge of the range almost in the blink of an eye tore apart the steel storm formed by the solid bullets to the wreckage. At a distance of 500 meters, the eight- and twelve-pound solid bullets almost effortlessly pierced the side of three or four inches of thick wood, and even broke and shattered the ship's wedge and bulkhead wood.

The second launch was forty breaths later, and under the second wave of blows, the target ship could no longer support it, and it seemed that the keel was broken by chance, breaking in the middle and slowly sinking.

Next, he test-fired 1,000 and 2,000 meter target ships, and practiced tactics such as near-side escort and anti-enemy ship charge-Yue Lengqiu also understood at this time that Huaidong's newly built ambush fire crossbow had reached the level of large-scale manufacturing and deployment of the battalion.